Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered a red phalarope. Until I one day become personally acquainted, I can only read about and study them in images. Like other members of the Phalaropus genus, breeding females are more brightly colored than their male counterparts. This sexual dimorphism is reflected in behavioral differences, too. Female phalaropes engage in combat with one another as they vie for desirable males to mate with, and after the eggs have been laid, the females abandon the nests and their original mates to seek a new male. Male red phalaropes incubate the eggs and care for the young. Relatively few birds exhibit this polyandrous (“many males”) mating system; fewer than 1% of all bird species, in fact, although it’s more common among shorebirds. Interestingly, because of the red phalarope’s polyandrous nature, artist and naturalist John James Audubon mislabeled the female red phalarope as a male on his famous “Birds of America” plate. Doh.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.