This is bird note. The dictionary defines anomaly as something difficult to classify,

a departure from the rule. If any bird meets that description, it's the Wilson's fallarope.

In a bird book, Wilson's fallaropes are found among the sandpipers,

and in fact they do have the long slender sandpiper bill.

But instead of probing tide flats, they forage while swimming alongside ducks.

They spin like tops on the water.

That creates an upwelling, pulling food to the surface, which the birds pick off.

The breeding of Wilson's fallaropes is even more unusual.

Females are the brightly colored sex, opposite of most birds, and courtship rolls are reversed.

Females compete for males, sometimes mate with several.

And once they lay eggs, leave all parental duties to the males.

In summer, Wilson's fallaropes nest in prairie wetlands in the northern half of the western United States and well into Canada.

But come winter, they head south, some as far as Argentina.

In common with most birds, however, Wilson's fallaropes face conservation challenges,

particularly when it comes to the protection of their winter habitat.

To learn more about the anomalous fallarope, come to our website, birdnote.org.

I'm Mary McCann.