Red-necked Phalarope

The red-necked phalarope is a small, circumpolar shorebird that breeds in boreal and tundra regions between roughly 60 and 70 degrees north. Breeding habitat includes marshy lake margins, floodplains, bogs, coastal moorland, and even sparsely vegetated Icelandic lava desert. Migrants use saline lakes, while wintering birds become highly marine and concentrate around ocean upwellings and surface slicks. Adults measure 18–19 cm, span 31–34 cm, and weigh 20–48 g. Females possess the brighter breeding plumage. (Animal Diversity Web)

These phalaropes collect aquatic insects, crustaceans, mollusks, worms, and planktonic animals from the water. They often swim while feeding and exploit marine concentrations of zooplankton during migration and winter. Their breeding roles are reversed: females compete for males and may mate polyandrously when males are plentiful, whereas males develop brood patches and perform incubation. A female normally lays four eggs in a ground nest near water. Incubation lasts roughly 18–20 days, and the male remains with the precocial chicks until they approach fledging. (Animal Diversity Web)