This female bird is far more colorful than the male, and she leaves the male to incubate the eggs!

The Wilson’s Phalarope is the most common inland phalarope, and its biology includes a role reversal that involves the female being both larger and more colorful than the male. The female also turns over all egg incubation and brood rearing duties to the male, while she may look for another mate.

Apart from the nesting season, which is spent in shallow wetlands, Wilson’s Phalaropes spend most of the year in extremely saline lakes in the western U.S.

The male Wilson's Phalarope is less colorful than the female.