Red-necked Phalarope

The red-necked phalarope is a small wader about 18cm long, with a straight, fine bill and lobed toes that help it swim. The breeding female is dark grey above with a chestnut neck and upper breast, a black face and white throat; the breeding male is a duller version. A white wing stripe separates it from Wilson's phalarope. In winter it is grey above and white below, always with a black patch through the eye. Its call is a sharp whit (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in the Arctic of North America and Eurasia and, unusually for a wader, winters at sea on tropical oceans. Roles are reversed: females are larger, compete for males and leave once the clutch is complete, while the male incubates the usually four eggs for about 20 days in a grass-lined hollow on a small mound and cares for the young, which feed themselves and can fly within about 20 days. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant in Indian waters but gives no trend or priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).