AN EXPLANATION FOR THE POPULATION CRASH OF RED-NECKED PHALAROPES PHALAROPUS LOBATUS STAGING IN THE BAY OF FUNDY IN THE 1980s

One of the greatest seabird mysteries of the North Atlantic region is the abrupt disappearance of Red-necked Phalaropes Phalaropus lobatus from their major autumn staging site in the southwestern Bay of Fundy during the 1980s (Brown 1991, Duncan 1996, Rubega et al. 2000, Duncan et al. 2001, Nisbet et al. 2013). Surveys in the late 1970s and early 1980s yielded estimated totals of up to 2 000 000–3 000 000 birds, with peak numbers in mid-August...