Red-necked Phalarope
Phalaropus lobatus
The Red-necked Phalarope is a small shorebird, easily recognized in the breeding plumage of brightly coloured females. It breeds across the entire circumpolar sub-and low-Arctic and spends much of the non-breeding season at sea feeding almost exclusively on zooplankton. It breeds or migrates through every province and territory in Canada with perhaps as many as 3 million breeding birds in Canada (2.3+/- 0.7 million) There were an estimated three million migrants in the outer Bay of Fundy in the 1970s, but numbers declined sharply. The most recent surveys (2009-2010), estimated 550 000 Red-necked Phalarope migrants between Grand Manan and Brier Island in the Bay of Fundy, including migrants from Greenland, Iceland and Scotland. The 2014 Field Checklist of Birds for PEI lists this species as Uncommon to Fairly Common in autumn.
A change in climate, with habitat and food-web effects, is likely the single greatest threat to Red-necked Phalaropes on their breeding grounds. The build-up of contaminants in the Arctic environment, industrial activities, and overgrazing by Snow Goose likely have negative impacts on breeding birds and their habitat. Phalaropes spend much of their life at sea, and oil and plastic pollution are concerning. Population monitoring is a top priority.