In winter, both species have slate-colored backs, dark bills, and white underparts and head which makes differentiation difficult. Both species have conspicuous white wing stripes in all plumages. The scalloped lobes on their toes make swimming easy. During spring and fall migration, phalaropes can be found in all marine waters of the state. From late July through August, red phalaropes are often the most abundant shorebirds along the Beaufort Sea coast.
Males alone incubate the eggs and tend the young.
Females, meanwhile, may mate with other males or return to the sea. Phalarope nests are typically located on the ground near water. Males and, to a limited extent, females scratch out a small depression in the ground and then line it with grasses, dead leaves, and lichen. Males add to this lining during the egg-laying period and early incubation. The typical clutch size is four eggs, laid one per day.