Crossword clues for phalarope
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Phalarope \Phal"a*rope\, n. [Gr. ? having a patch of white + ?, ?, a foot: cf. F. phalarope.] (Zo["o]l.) Any species of Phalaropus and allied genera of small wading birds ( Grall[ae]), having lobate toes. They are often seen far from land, swimming in large flocks. Called also sea goose.
Wiktionary
n. Any of three small wading birds in the genus ''Phalaropus'', of the family Scolopacidae, that have lobed toes.
WordNet
n. small sandpiper-like shorebird having lobate toes and being good swimmers; breed in the arctic and winter in the tropics
Wikipedia
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A phalarope is any of three living species of slender-necked shorebirds in the genus Phalaropus of the bird family Scolopacidae. The English and genus names come through French phalarope and scientific Latin Phalaropus from Ancient Greek phalaris, "coot", and pous, "foot". Coots and phalaropes both have lobed toes.
Phalaropes are close relatives of the shanks and tattlers, the Actitis and Terek sandpipers, and also of the turnstones and calidrids. They are especially notable for two things: their unusual nesting behavior, and their unique feeding technique.
Two species, the red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius, called grey phalarope in Europe) and red-necked phalarope (P. lobatus) breed around the Arctic Circle and winter on tropical oceans. Wilson's phalarope (P. tricolor) breeds in western North America and migrates to South America. All are in length, with lobed toes and a straight, slender bill. Predominantly grey and white in winter, their plumage develops reddish markings in summer.
A fossil species, Phalaropus elenorae, is known from the Middle Pliocene 4-3 million years ago (mya). A coracoid fragment from the Late Oligocene (c. 23 mya) near Créchy, France, was also ascribed to a primitive phalarope; it might belong to an early species of the present genus or a prehistoric relative. The divergence of phalaropes from their closest relatives can be dated to around that time, as evidenced by the fossil record (chiefly of the shanks) and supported by tentative DNA sequence data. It is notable that the last remains of the Turgai Sea disappeared around then, and given the distribution of their fossil species it is quite plausible that this process played a major role in separating the lineages of the shank-phalarope clade.
Usage examples of "phalarope".
I have heard in the far, far west of Ireland, on Belmullet, where the phalarope lives.
In contrast, a polyandrous female phalarope produces on the average only 1.
My first scientific paper was also on the breeding behavior of a bird on a remote Arctic island: the red phalarope on Spitsbergen.
For instance, flocks of up to ten female phalaropes may pursue a male for miles.
Among some tiny birds called phalaropes, for example, everything about the sex roles is reversed.
In some bird species, such as phalaropes and Spotted Sandpipers, it's the male that does the work of incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks, while the female goes in search of another male to inseminate her again and to rear her next clutch.
For instance, flocks of up to ten female phalaropes may pursue a male for miles.
He grew anxious and thin and partially bald, and there she was on the lough, chasing the other phalaropes and being chased by them, crying pleep, pleep, pleep and never doing a beak's turn by way of labour or toil.
The best known of these female sultans are the shore birds called jacanas (alias lily-trotters), Spotted Sandpipers, and Wilson's Phalaropes.
Although the numbers of adult males and females may be equal, the ratio of sexually available females to males rises as high as seven-to-one among breeding Spotted Sandpipers and Wilson's Phalaropes.
The stranger would swing round to run parallel, keeping the Phalarope down to leeward.
From the moment the Phalarope had weighed anchor he had not spared himself or his efforts to maintain his hold over the ship.