From land to sea: the fall migration of the red phalarope through the Western Hemisphere

Red phalaropes belong to the shorebirds, but except during breeding, they are in fact surface-feeding, planktivorous seabirds. In a collaborative project with colleagues from the US and Canada, we tracked red phalaropes at 7 breeding sites in the Alaskan and Central Canadian Arctic. We show that the timing of migration and the migration routes are highly variable and that individuals often stop to forage before moving further south. The study documents the key stopover areas near Alaska and highlights the difference in migration strategy between males and females.

(Saalfeld, Valcu, Brown, English, Giroux, Harrison, Krietsch, Kuletz, Lamarre, Latty, Lecomte, McGuire, Robards, Scarpignato, Schulte, Smith, Kempenaers, and Lanctot 2024)

Photo by Luke Eberhart-Hertel

References

Saalfeld, S. T., M. Valcu, S. Brown, W. English, M.-A. Giroux, A.-L. Harrison, J. Krietsch, K. Kuletz, J.-F. Lamarre, C. Latty, N. Lecomte, R. McGuire, M. Robards, A. Scarpignato, S. Schulte, P. A. Smith, B. Kempenaers, and R. B. Lanctot. 2024. From land to sea: the fall migration of the red phalarope through the Western Hemisphere. Marine Ecology Progress Series 729:1–29.