Far From Land The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds

60 | Chapter 4

startling information. Without question one of the biggest surprises

involved Red- necked Phalaropes. These charming small waders spend

the summer on northern tarns where, in a reversal of typical roles, the

brighter females court a drabber male, lay a clutch, and then devolve all

incubating duties onto him. Come winter and the phalaropes qualify as

seabirds, spending their days in small flocks picking titbits from the

surface. It had always been assumed that the small number of British

phalaropes joined greater numbers of their kind from northern Russia

to spend the winter in the seas south of Arabia, a known stronghold.

By 2012, geolocators had become small enough to be attached safely to

phalaropes, of which ten were duly tagged on the Shetland island of

Fetlar. One was spotted back on Fetlar the following summer.

Wintering ranges of three tagged Ross’s Gulls in the Labrador Sea from

2011 to 2013 showing 25, 50 and 75% occupancy contours. Inset map shows

all winter locations and the black star in the inset shows the breeding site

of the three birds on Nasaruvaalik. Map reproduced with permission

of Wiley, from the work cited in Note 8, Chapter 4.

70°N

60°N

70°W

Winter

Occupancy

25%

50%

75%

Labrador

Greenland

60°W

Dav

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Labrador^ Se
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