Friday's Foto

East Pond, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

While the Red-necked Phalarope is considered a shorebird they spend most of their life at sea. Picking food from the surface of the water, they will frequently spin in circles to bring zooplankton, insects and other small creatures to the surface. Their scientific name, Phalaropus lobatus, means coot foot, lobed, which refers to their unusual lobbed toes. Courtship and parenting roles for this species is reversed from most birds: females are more colorful and do the courting, while males incubate the eggs and raise the chicks. Their breeding range is in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. They spend the non-breeding season at sea in tropical oceans. Click here to see a comparison of the three phalarope species.