Seward, Alaska
I found some photos from April of a GREATER YELLOWLEGS in breeding plumage, fishing in a small stream. It carefully placed each bright golden foot in the water, slowly walking along on long golden legs, watching, watching. Suddenly, it dashed forward and plunged its head into the water to grab the surprisingly unsuspecting fish and gobbled it down. A thoughtful look around as the wriggling dinner descended the long neck, and then back to work.
In contrast to a Lesser Yellowlegs, the GREATER YELLOWLEGS had a long bill more than 1.5x as long as the head and was heavily streaked on the throat and breast, with black wavy bars on the sides and belly.
Two beautiful species, similar but slightly different and well worth a second look to distinguish them.
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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