As mentioned in my last Longyearbyen wildlife post, seeing a Red phalarope, also known as the Grey phalarope, was a highlight of my visit to the bird ponds near Longyearbyen airport. It was one of those moments when I saw a new bird and immediately knew what it was from years of reading bird books despite having never seen the bird previously. My neural pathways told me it was a Red phalarope but in Europe they are known as Grey phalarope (Red in the Americas) which briefly confused my conciousness.

Despite being waders, they winter at sea and their winter range includes the western coast of Southern Africa so they had featured in the bird books of my youth where they were labelled as Red phalarope hence the label in my brain associated with the visual image.

Phalarope are fascinating little birds with roles reversed from what is typical for birds. Females are the more colourful, compete for nesting territories and pursue the males. They lay their eggs which are incubated by the males while the females defend the nest and sitting males.

The mottled crown on this bird suggest it is a male in breeding plumage. The overwhelming first impression was at how active the bird was, moving rapidly and darting after food items. I was hoping that it would forage toward me allowing some closer views but after feeding in 2 locations on the far edge of the pond it took off and flew straight toward me. Fortunately the AF on my Nikon Z9 was up to the challenge and locked on well for a sequence of flight images.

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S