Lesser Yellowlegs

Tringa flavipes

eBird gives this description for the Lesser Yellowlegs:  Medium-sized shorebird with bright yellow legs. Plumage is essentially identical to Greater Yellowlegs: gray upperparts with white speckling, streaky neck, and white belly. Proportions are most important for identification. Lesser is smaller overall with shorter, narrower, straighter bill, shorter neck, more rounded head, and smaller chest. Forages actively on mudflats and in shallow pools and marshes, often in loose mixed flocks with Greater Yellowlegs. Somewhat more likely to be found in smaller, marshier habitats than Greater, but much overlap. Listen for soft, whistled “tew” calls, typically only one or two notes, unlike the stronger series of notes from Greater.  All About Birds gives this additional descriptive information about the Lesser Yellowlegs:  The Lesser Yellowlegs is a dainty and alert “marshpiper” that occurs in shallow, weedy wetlands and flooded fields across North America during migration. It’s smaller with a shorter, more needlelike bill than the Greater Yellowlegs, but otherwise looks very similar. It breeds in the meadows and open woodlands of boreal Canada. Like many other shorebirds, the Lesser Yellowlegs rebounded from hunting in the early 20th century but has declined again from losses of wetland habitats. It is on the Yellow Watch List for species with declining populations.

I encountered my first Lesser Yellowlegs at Lafitte’s Cove Bird Sanctuary on Gavleston Island on the morning of Monday, April 19, 2021.  At first blush I thought it was a Greater Yellowlegs, but closer examination revealed the characteristics of the Lesser Yellowlegs:  shorter, narrower, straighter bill, shorter neck, more rounded head, and smaller chest.