Phalaropus lobatus
Silhouette: Oscar G. Miranda · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The red-necked phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus), also known as the northern phalarope and hyperborean phalarope, is a small wader. This phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. It is migratory, and, unusually for a wader, winters at sea on tropical oceans.
In 1743, the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the red-necked phalarope in the first volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The coot-footed tringa". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been collected off the coast of Maryland. When in 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the red-necked phalarope with the phalaropes and sandpipers in the genus Tringa. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Tringa lobata and cited Edwards' work. The red-necked phalarope is now placed in the genus Phalaropus that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The English and genus names come through French phalarope and scientific Latin Phalaropus from Ancient Greek phalaris, "coot",... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Karachi | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | |
| 3 | Guangzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Davao City | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 5 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Dubai | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 7 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monterey Bay Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-necked Phalarope sighting in Kenai Fjords National Park on a given day, based on 132 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 33rd most-seen of the 99 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-necked Phalarope sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Red-necked Phalarope sightings, Kenai Fjords National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Komodo National Park (Indonesia, about 20%) and Vatnajokull National Park (Iceland, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-necked Phalarope is recorded against all the birds logged in Kenai Fjords National Park (132 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
