photo by Greg Hofmann

8/23/2004: The wonderful little Red-necked Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) are now visiting the slough, as they did last year at this time. If you haven't made a visit to Strawberry Lagoon (where Elkhorn Road meets Strawberry Road), it's not too late to see these birds in action. This female still has a bit of color left from her breeding plumage; you can see the full-color display in the wild only if you travel to the arctic – that's where they breed. In this polyandrous species, the usual sex roles are reversed: Unadorned males choose mates from among brightly colored females, and it is the males who brood the young while the females fly south to feed and recover from the demands of egg-laying.