Thanks to JD Arnston for finding and eBirding a Red-necked Phalarope, one of the world’s smallest seabirds, at Goose Pond on September 5, 2021. Phalaropes are interesting shorebirds. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology provides great information on this species. “They have reversed sex ratios. Females are larger and more colorful than males. They compete to win mates, and the males do all the incubation and care for the young. They often form one-on-one pairs, but females sometimes move on to a new male immediately after mating and laying eggs with another male.

Cover photo by Mick Thompson

Red-necked Phalaropes are the smallest and daintiest of the 3 phalarope species (Wilson’s and Red Phalaropes), it spends up to 9 months of the year at sea, riding on a raft of dense belly plumage and feeding on tiny planktonic invertebrates at oceanographic fronts, convergences, and other discontinuities. Red-necked Phalaropes are famous, as are the other two species of phalarope, for lifting aquatic prey within reach by rapidly spinning in tight circles in a manner reminiscent of a slightly demented toy.

*Map courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology*

Formerly known as the Northern Phalarope, this species breeds widely across the Holarctic. Postbreeding, Red-necked Phalaropes migrate to pelagic wintering areas either over the open ocean or via inland bodies of water of all sizes and description. In western North America, tens of thousands use hypersaline lakes as fueling stations on their way south to the Humboldt Current off Peru and Ecuador.

Red-necked Phalaropes breed in the Arctic and winter at sea, so population trends are hard to measure. They are numerous and widespread with a global breeding population estimated at 4.1 million, according to Partners in Flight. They score an 11 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, which means they are not on the Partners in Flight Watch List and are a species of low conservation concern. While global trends are unknown, steep declines have been reported at migration sites in eastern Canada, linked to declines in zooplankton associated with cool waters.”

Sam Robbins wrote in WIsconsin Birdlife (1991) that they are an uncommon migrant. In spring and fall for nearly every year since 1950, this species has turned up at from one to six locations, mostly as individuals mixing with other shorebirds along the edges of shallow ponds.

Robbins wrote an interesting observation by Herbert Stoddard, an early Wisconsin Naturalist. “On 28 August 1921, observing along the beach at Cedar Grove (Sheboygan County), Stoddard caught sight of a flock of 500 birds that “circled and recircled, turned and twisted, some of the flocks finally alighting in some smooth streaks in the water.” Determined to get a closer look, Stoddard swam a quarter of a mile out into Lake Michigan, and later wrote: They were in no way disturbed by my presence...swimming high and lightly, with heads and tails well elevated and necks gracefully arched; they spun and twisted as only phalaropes can, while they fed on minute surface animals of some kind.”

Our first record of a Red-necked Phalarope at Goose Pond was a May 28, 1961 observation by William Hilsenhoff, John Romano had a high count of two birds on September 5, 2011. The high count for Columbia County was reported by Judith Huf of 15 birds on August 28th, 2008 at Harvey Road ponds.

*The east pond, adjacent to the Madison Audubon-owned west pond, with water levels well below average. Photo by Mark Martin*

The UW Arlington Research Farms National Weather Station data has the local area 10.65 inches of precipitation below normal for the first eight months of 2021. It is not surprising that the pond is drying out and providing ideal shorebird habitat. The east pond is lower than the west pond and currently provides the best shorebird habitat. Aaron Holschbach and Mike Ellery entered their checklist data on eBird and reported Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs the past few days.

Other birds that like the lower water levels are Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, and Great Egrets that are feeding on fathead minnows. The shallower the water, the easier fishing. Aaron also reported 370 Blue-winged Teal and 450 Mallards.

We hope you visit this fall and enjoy the wildlife and prairie. Check out the “Pond Cam” to see what is happening.

Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers

NOTE: Red-necked Phalaropes also winter in the Pacific Ocean west of Peru and Ecuador