You would think that all shorebirds live at the shore but not this one.  The red-necked phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) spends most of his life at sea, spinning like a top.

Phalaropes live inland from June through August while they’re breeding in the sub-arctic northern hemisphere but most of the year — November through March — they’re out to sea on the tropical ocean.  Their food is on or near the water’s surface.

Phalaropes feed by swimming in tight circles, rapidly picking tiny insect larvae, crustaceans, and mollusks from the water.  Their feet are specially equipped for swimming. They have lobed toes like coots.  (“Phalarope” is Ancient Greek for “coot toes.”)

In winter red-necked phalaropes don’t have red necks. Right now they’re wearing gray “basic” plumage, shown above, as they migrate to their final destinations in the southern hemisphere. Western birds take an inland route through the western U.S. but you probably won’t see one in the east. Except for a few stopovers at the Great Lakes, the eastern population flies immediately to the Atlantic Ocean. 

If you really want to see red-necked phalaropes in beautiful breeding plumage you’ll have to wait for spring.  Sparky Stensaas filmed this group feeding at their breeding grounds in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

Red-necked Phalarope spin feeding Churchill, Manitoba, Canada from Sparky Stensaas on Vimeo.

Look how fast they spin!

(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the caption to see the original. video by Sparky Stensaas on Vimeo)

Hudsonian godwits (Limosa haemastica) breed on remote tundra and sedge meadows in Canada and Alaska, then spend the winter as far south as the tip of South America.

To make this long journey they assemble in flocks in August on wet prairies and mudflats where they use their long upturned bills to probe for invertebrates and plant tubers.

Since their food is found in wide open places, Hudsonian godwits spend their lives in the wind.  I hadn’t thought about this until I searched for videos and hear the wind on every soundtrack.

At top, Hudsonian godwits fly in slow motion in the moaning wind.  Below a flock of 2,500 assembles at James Bay, Canada in lots of wind.

Occasionally a lone Hudsonian godwit is found during migration, like this one at Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge in Montana.  Even here it’s windy.

(videos from YouTube; click the YouTube logo to see the originals)

Great egrets (Ardea alba) are southern and coastal birds with only a few breeding sites north of Mason-Dixon. However, those few sites don’t account for the high number of egrets we see outside their breeding range in August.

As it turns out, great egrets disperse widely after they’re done breeding.  Many move north before flying south for the winter.

Lauri Shaffer posted these photos on Facebook with the comment:  “Love August when the Great Egrets finally make it north to Montour County!” (Pennsylvania)

I wish great egrets would stop in Pittsburgh.

photos by Lauri Shaffer at birdingpictures.com

Every fall this bird performs an amazing feat of physical endurance.  It flies non-stop over the ocean for 2,500 miles.

The whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a long distance migrant that occurs on every continent except Antarctica because it breeds in the far north and winters in the southern hemisphere.

Most North American whimbrels spend the winter in coastal South America.  To get there, some travel the western route down the Pacific Ocean to Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile.

Others take an eastern route, flying across northern Canada in mid-July to spend two weeks fattening up on the shores of the U.S. and Canada. Then they launch over the Atlantic and fly non-stop to Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil.  What’s the air distance from Cape Cod to Venezuela?  2,500 miles.

We didn’t know the whimbrels’ route until the Center for Conservation Biology began satellite tagging them in 2008.  In August 2012 they made an astonishing discovery.  Three of their 20 satellite tagged whimbrels made a wide arc over the Atlantic, far out to sea, before heading for the coast of Brazil.  One of them (red line) traveled 4,355 miles non-stop before touching down. At 30 miles per hour, the trip took six days. Read more at the Center for Conservation Biology website.

By now whimbrels have been on the move for several weeks.  When you see one you’ll know why he’s eating so much.  He has a big trip ahead of him.

(photo and map of the whimbrel’s range from Wikimedia Commons. Migration routes map from Center for Conservation Biology.  Click on the captions to see the originals.)

Late July doesn’t look or feel like autumn but fall migration has already begun.

Shorebirds are some of the earliest species to start their journey south.  Last weekend brought a good assortment to Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA.   Here are a few of the migrants we would have seen if we’d been there.

American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana), above, raise only one brood per year and will leave the breeding grounds immediately if their nest fails.   Avocets are always a treat in Pennsylvania because they breed far west of here and could easily bypass us if they wanted to.  Instead, some fly to the east coast before moving south.  Steve Gosser found a pair hanging out at Conneaut, Ohio in July 2013.  (The bird with the black head is a Bonaparte’s gull. He’s also migrating.)

Sanderlings (Calidris alba), below, nest on the tundra in high arctic Canada, mostly north of the Arctic Circle.  These small birds have one shot at breeding so if it doesn’t work they form flocks with other failed breeders in late June and move south in July.

Short-billed dowitchers (Limnodromus griseus) breed from Hudson Bay to western Labrador and in northern Manitoba and Alberta.  Failed breeders leave the breeding grounds in late June while successful females depart in early July followed by males later in the month.  Juveniles leave in August. Once they start passing through we’ll see short-billed dowitchers in Pennsylvania for several weeks.

The lesser yellowlegs’ (Tringa flavipes) lifestyle dictates when each family member leaves the breeding grounds (Alaska to Hudson Bay) for their winter home (primarily in Suriname).  Successful females head south in June as soon as their eggs hatch and the young walk off the nest.  The males protect their chicks until they fly then head south, too.  The juveniles form flocks and fend for themselves until they decide to leave.

Visit Lake Erie’s shore for a good look at shorebirds.  The best places close to Pittsburgh are the harbor area at Conneaut, Ohio or Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA.

(photos by Steve Gosser)

p.s. Here’s the complete shorebird list from Gull Point on July 21-22, 2018, gathered from eBird:

• American Avocet
• Semipalmated Plover
• Piping Plover (local breeder, two nests)
• Killdeer
• Whimbrel
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Redknot
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Sanderling
• Dunlin
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs