An Arctic life on the ocean wave
Phalaropes are very odd little birds. They are classed as waders, closely related to plovers and sandpipers.
But they spend much of their lives out at sea and are specially adapted for this with lobes on the sides of their toes, a feature which gives them their name.
Phalarope is derived from the Greek word for "coot-footed". They also have dense downy feathers like ducks which trap air and make them extremely buoyant.
Two species of phalarope, red-necked and grey, are regularly encountered in this country. The main breeding range for both is a broad band encircling the Arctic from Alaska, through Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and Siberia although a few pairs of red-necked, about 20 a year, breed in the British Isles,
with the main stronghold on Shetland. The grey phalarope favours the tundra of northern Canada.
In both species it is the female that takes the dominant role. She is larger and more brightly-coloured than the male and she does the wooing. After laying her eggs she leaves the male to do all the incubating and rearing of the chicks on his own. She might then find another spare male before leaving him to the same fate.
In autumn both species set off for warmer climes.
The red-necked phalaropes move across Scandinavia and Russia before swinging southwards to the Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan and, after a refuelling stop, on to the seas off the southern tip of Arabia where they gather in huge numbers.
Grey phalaropes move across and down the Atlantic to the seas off south and south west Africa and a run of Atlantic depressions such as those we have been experiencing over the past weeks can bring them to the western half of Britain.
Sightings of red-necked phalaropes, almost always juveniles, on passage in autumn are much less associated with weather conditions. A juvenile was present all last week at Chowder Ness on the Humber next to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Far Ings reserve while a number of greys have been seen across England.
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Both red-necked and grey phalaropes have lost their red summer finery by the time they are seen in England and can be hard to tell apart.
But the red-necked, only the size of a starling, is smaller and daintier, with a noticeably finer, almost needlelike bill. In juvenile plumage they have a dark mantle contrasting with a buffy-grey or white breast.
Grey phalaropes have thicker, blunter more tubular bills than red-necked.
The gales have also brought a number of great northern divers to inland waters withfour in the region. A juvenile was seen at at Angler's Country Park, two at Blackmoorfoot reservoir in West Yorkshire and one at Barton-upon Humber pits, north Lincolnshire.
On the east coast three have been present in Filey Bay while there was a rare sighting on the east coast, a black guillemot, on Saturday.
A drake green-winged teal has been seen at Alkborough Flats on the Humber and possibly the same bird at Bubwith Ings near Selby, while a drake and redhead smew and drake red-crested pochard were at Tophill Low, East Yorkshire. A red-necked grebe was on the River Derwent at Bubwith on Tuesday.
A red-crested pochard and drake ferruginous duck were at Pugney's Country Park, Wakefield. While a red-breasted merganser is still being seen at Angler's Country Park.
Copies of the 2010 Yorkshire Wildlife Calendars are still available.These feature 26 pictures by talented Yorkshire photographers and suggestions on what to seeand where to look for it.See www.eywildlifecalendar.co.uk or contact Michael Flowers on mflowers81@ live.co.uk or 07946 625688.Please say you saw this mentioned in the Yorkshire Post and Michael will donate 1 for each one purchased to Spurn Bird Observatory.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
