Migratory routes of red‐necked phalaropes Phalaropus lobatus breeding in southern Chukotka revealed by geolocators

• Published in: Journal of Avian Biology
• Main Authors: Tong Mu, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Egor Y. Loktionov, Evgeny E. Syroechkovskiy, David S. Wilcove
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: red-necked phalarope; Phalaropus lobatus; migration; geolocator; Chukotka; East Indies; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; General. Including nature conservation; geographical distribution; QH1-199.5; Bering Sea; Pacific; Red-necked Phalarope
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.01853; https://doaj.org/article/521a3d0c2f8b4d8d854fe342cb966793

The migration routes of red‐necked phalaropes breeding around the Bering Sea are poorly known, despite the fact that the Bering Sea could mark the boundary between the East Palearctic populations that winter in the Pacific Ocean around the East Indies and the West Nearctic populations that winter in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. Geolocator data retrieved from two male phalaropes tagged in southern Chukotka, Far Eastern Russia, confirm that birds breeding in this region belong to the East Palearctic population and winter in the East Indies, suggesting that the division line with the West Nearctic population is farther to the east. The routes taken by the two phalaropes were almost entirely pelagic, totaling around 18 000–20 000 km round‐trip, with the birds continuously on the move during migration, rather than resident in any particular stopover site, contrary to most other migratory shorebirds.