CreatureData

Wilson's phalarope

Phalaropus tricolor (Vieillot, 1819)

Status not recordedbirds

Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) is a bird in the family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes. It is a small, migratory, terrestrial bird whose diet category is aquatic predator and whose habitat is wetland.

Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)
Photo: Cephas · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the wilson's phalarope

Adults typically weigh about 59 g and have a typical wingspan of about 39 cm.

Weight
50.2 g – 68.1 gsrc for Weight
Length
22 cm – 24 cmsrc for Length
Wingspan
35 cm – 43 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
10 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
23 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the wilson's phalarope?

WILSON'S PHALAROPE · LENGTH 24 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 24 cm, the recorded maximum length of the wilson's phalarope is about 14% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

What eats the wilson's phalarope?

Species recorded in published studies and collections.

Recorded predators of the wilson's phalarope

1 on record

  1. Peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus3 sources

Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).

References for these records
  • Billerman, S. M., Keeney, B., K., Rodewald, P. G., Schulenberg, T. S., (eds). Birds of the World (2022). Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. <https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/home>
  • https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17710891
  • https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17708055

Where does the wilson's phalarope live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the wilson's phalarope as introduced in 1 country.

  1. Belgium

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

What is the wilson's phalarope?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) is a small wader. This bird, the largest of the phalaropes, breeds in the prairies of North America in western Canada and the western United States. It is migratory, wintering in inland salt lakes near the Andes in Argentina. They are passage migrants through Central America around March/April and again during September/October. The species is a rare vagrant to western Europe.

This species is often very tame and approachable. Sometimes it is placed in a monotypic genus Steganopus.

From the Wikipedia article “Wilson's phalarope” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilson%27s_phalarope&oldid=1365131914), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the wilson's phalarope endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the wilson's phalarope classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyScolopacidae
  6. genusPhalaropus
  7. SpeciesPhalaropus tricolor (Vieillot, 1819)

Synonyms Holopodus wilsonii, Lobipes incanus, Phalaropus fimbriatus, Phalaropus frenatus, Phalaropus lobatus, Phalaropus stenodactylus, Phalaropus tricolor, Phalaropus tricolor, Phalaropus tricolor tricolor, Phalaropus tricolor tricolor, Phalaropus tricolor tricolor, Phalaropus wilsoni, Steganopus tricolor

Other names and names in other languages (55)
  • Wilson’s phalaropeEnglish
  • BontfraiingpootAfrikaans
  • falaropu de WilsonAsturian
  • Трицветен листоногBulgarian
  • Teleg-WilsonBreton
  • escuraflascons de WilsonCatalan
  • lyskonoh dlouhozobýCzech
  • llydandroed WilsonWelsh
  • Adar Llydandroed WilsonWelsh
  • Amerikansk svømmesneppeDanish
  • WilsonwassertreterGerman
  • WilsonhühnchenGerman
  • Wilsons WassertreterGerman
  • Τρίχρωμος φαλαρόποδαςGreek
  • trikolora falaropoEsperanto
  • Falaropo comúnSpanish
  • Falaropo pico largoSpanish
  • Falaropo tricolorSpanish
  • suur-veetallajaEstonian
  • amerikanvesipääskyFinnish
  • BárafjatlaFaroese
  • Phalarope de WilsonFrench
  • Falaróp mórIrish
  • Falaroap WilsonManx
  • שחיינית תלת-גוניתHebrew
  • velika liskonogaCroatian
  • Wilson-víztaposóHungarian
  • FreyshaniIcelandic
  • Falaropo di WilsonItalian
  • アメリカヒレアシシギJapanese
  • 큰지느러미발도요Korean
  • didysis plaukikasLithuanian
  • Amerikas pūslītisLatvian
  • hvithalesvømmesnipeNorwegian Bokmål
  • langnebbsvømmesnipeNorwegian Bokmål
  • grote franjepootDutch
  • kvithalesymjesnipeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • langnebbsymjesnipeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • Snepi Seha GrandiPapiamento
  • płatkonóg trójbarwnyPolish
  • pisa-n'águaPortuguese
  • falaropo-tricolorPortuguese
  • pisa-na-águaPortuguese
  • Большой плавунчикRussian
  • AmerihkábávgošNorthern Sami
  • lyskonoh trojfarebnýSlovak
  • tribarvni liskonožecSlovenian
  • Trobojna liskonogaSerbian
  • WilsonsimsnäppaSwedish
  • präriesimsnäppaSwedish
  • Büyük DenizdüdükçünüTurkish
  • buyuk deniz dudukcunuTurkish
  • плавунець довгодзьобийUkrainian
  • 细嘴瓣蹼鹬Chinese
  • 赤斑瓣蹼鷸Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaTAXREFWikidataWoRMS

Relatives of the wilson's phalarope

Other species in the same genus Phalaropus.

CompareWilson's phalarope vs Red-necked phalaropeWilson's phalarope vs Red phalarope

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

How much does Wilson's phalarope weigh?

Adults typically weigh about 59 g. Our sources report values from 50.2 g to 68.1 g.

What is the wingspan of Wilson's phalarope?

The typical wingspan is about 39 cm. Sources report values from 35 cm to 43 cm.

What does Wilson's phalarope eat?

Its diet category is aquatic predator, and it is a carnivore.

What habitat does Wilson's phalarope use?

Its habitat is wetland. It is a migratory bird.

How long does Wilson's phalarope live?

The typical lifespan is 10 years.

Is the wilson's phalarope an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the wilson's phalarope as introduced in 1 country: Belgium, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What eats the wilson's phalarope?

Animals recorded preying on the wilson's phalarope include peregrine falcon. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-phalarope

MLA

“Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-phalarope.

BibTeX
@misc{wilsons_phalarope_2026,
  title = {Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-phalarope},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}