 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
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Atlas Results
Atlas results coming soon
Note: During all years of the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas drought conditions persisted and the Atlas range maps for all waterfowl, waterbirds, and wetland-associated species should be viewed as characteristic of distribution and abundance during dry conditions. Read the full drought statement here.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
Wilson's Phalarope, the largest of the phalarope species, is a member of a genus with reversed sex roles exhibiting sequential polyandry. Wilson's prefer to walk or wade along the small slough shoreline as opposed to swimming in open water like other phalaropes. Breeds predominantly in the Prairie Provinces and states of the Great Basin-northern Great Plains. The annual return migration involves 17,700 km from prairie marshes to salt lakes in the central Andes; 100,000 winter in Bolivia and up to 500,000 in Argentina (Jehl 1988, Colwell and Jehl 1994).
This species prefers shallow prairie ponds and marshes. Nesting occurs in larger sloughs with a vegetated edge where the nest may or may not be concealed. In northern Saskatchewan, it nests in wet sedge meadows. In migration it congregates in lagoons and saline lakes to forage on aquatic insects and amphipods in the nutrient-rich waters.
Wilson's Phalarope is a common summer resident in the grasslands and parklands of Saskatchewan. The only areas of the southern boreal region where they are common are the transition forest and perhaps the Cumberland Delta; otherwise they are uncommon and local (Smith 1996) with probable breeding as far north as Kazan Lake in 1942 (Randall 1962) and Boland Lake in 1977 (Secoy and Maw 1982).
Original text by Ron Jensen. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Wilson's Phalarope in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Wilson's Phalarope in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=WIPH&lang=en [14 Nov 2025]
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