# Wilson's phalarope (*Phalaropus tricolor*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-phalarope  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

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

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 50.2 g – 68.1 g |
| Length | 22 cm – 24 cm |
| Wingspan | 35 cm – 43 cm |
| Lifespan | 10 years |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 23 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4 |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Not recorded |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Recorded prey and predators

 Recorded predators: Peregrine falcon (*Falco peregrinus*). Each pair is recorded by at least two datasets compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/, CC0 1.0).

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 1 country. Introduced: Belgium. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Charadriiformes
- family: Scolopacidae
- genus: Phalaropus
- species: *Phalaropus 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*

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products](https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/), CC0 1.0, 0.11. Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference.
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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