Friday, July 22, 2022 Lesser Yellowlegs study

Seward, Alaska

I almost ran over a juvenile LESSER YELLOWLEGS this afternoon, a good half-mile from the beach. Its white rump flashed as it flushed off the road and veered onto a gravel driveway. Stunned, I stopped. Totally recovered from its fright, it was calmly stalking something in a muddy rain puddle. I turned onto the driveway to watch.

I don’t know how macroinvertebrates might suddenly appear in a rain puddle, or crawling on the gravel, but it looked like the catch-of-the-day was possibly stonefly larvae. There is a small pond nearby, which might be the source, plus all the rain and runoff might have inspired an insect migration. 

The focused shorebird ignored a fat, bright metallic-blue blowfly that even I could see. It stalked along the tall grass and intently hunted in the gravel and puddles, grabbing lunch like a pro with chopsticks. How it knew this bonanza was available is a mystery.

When I saw a Lesser Yellowlegs recently at the tidelands, it was pretty far away. In the field, I find it hard sometimes to differentiate between the Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. This was a great opportunity to get closer photos for future study.

To compare:

The Lesser is smaller, hence the name: 10.5” to 14” long, but size is hard to judge without something to compare.

Both Tringas (what a pretty name for the genus) have long yellow legs, but the Greater’s may be orange.

The Greater’s bill is stout and longer, more than 1.5x as long as the head, and may curve upwards. In breeding plumage, the bill is black, otherwise, it is two-toned with a grayish base.

The Lesser’s bill is dark, shorter, thinner, and straighter.

In breeding plumage, the Greater has heavy streaking on the throat and breast, and the sides and belly have black barring and spots.

In breeding plumage, the Lesser has less, especially on the sides and flanks.

The juvenile Lesser has a grayish-brown wash across the neck and chest without streaks, and is darker, whereas the juvenile Greater still has a distinctly streaked breast.

The juvenile Lesser often has fine spotting on the back. Both juvenile species have browner backs than adults.

So here was a small-headed, dainty bird with a short, straight dark bill on long yellow stilts with a brown back speckled with stars, a white belly and flank with no bars or spots, and a neck and breast with smudgy, gray streaks. A shorebird far from shore; a Lesser Yellowlegs juvenile.

I so appreciated this chance to observe a Lesser Yellowlegs hunting, and am relieved that I didn’t hit it!

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter