Red-necked Palarope: but where's the red?

Waders are just mind boggling difficult to identify. We went from Pak Thale to Laem Pak Bie and during the travel there. We made a quick pit stop for a small flock of birds that was suppose to be at the brine shrimp breeding ponds.

As luck would have it, the birds were not there. However, on our return trip, we made another stop in the evening and much to our delight the birds were around. Four little birds bobbing in the wind swept pond that they were feeding in.

 

Red-necked Phalaropes are a small wader. The only time that they display their red-necks is when they wear their breeding plumage. They are yet another long distance traveler, breeding in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia and winter in the tropics.