Phalaropes are unique, slender-necked, slender-billed shorebirds related to the turnstones and calidrids. Two of the three species, the Red Phalarope and Red-necked Phalarope, breed close to the Arctic Circle and winter on tropical oceans. Wilson's Phalarope breeds further south, mainly in western North America, and migrates to South America.

Red and Red-necked Phalaropes are unusual amongst shorebirds in that they spend a great deal of their lives outside the breeding season well out to sea. All three species are unlike most other bird species in that they display reversed sexual dimorphism: females are larger and more brightly coloured than the males. Parenting roles are also reversed: once the females lay their eggs, they begin their southward migration, leaving the males to incubate the eggs and care for the young.