Greater Yellowlegs

Tringa melanoleucaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Related Birds

American Avocet
Willet
Black-necked Stilt
Terek Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruff
Spotted Redshank
Wandering Tattler
Common Greenshank
Common Redshank
Gray-tailed Tattler

General

Greater Yellowlegs: Large sandpiper with mottled brown, gray, and white upperparts. Underparts are white with dark streaks and spots. Bill is slightly upturned. Legs are distinctively long and bright yellow. Long barred tail and white rump are conspicuous in flight. Sexes are similar. Winter adult and juvenile have paler heads and necks.

Range and Habitat

Greater Yellowlegs: Breeds from south-central Alaska to Newfoundland. Spends winters mainly along coasts from Washington State and Virginia southward, and along the Gulf coast. Breeds on tundra and marshy ground; frequents pools, lakeshores, and tidal mudflats on migration.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"whew-whew-whew"

Interesting Facts

Although the Greater Yellowlegs is common and widespread, its low densities and tendency to breed in inhospitable, mosquito-ridden muskegs make it one of the least-studied shorebirds on the continent.
They often feed actively, running after fish or other fast-moving aquatic prey.
A group of yellowlegs are collectively known as an "incontinence" of yellowlegs.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs: Large sandpiper with mottled brown, gray, and white upperparts. Underparts are white with dark streaks, spots. Bill is slightly upturned. Legs are long and bright yellow. Long barred tail and white rump are conspicuous in flight. Swift direct flight, sometimes at great heights.

● Song: "whew-whew-whew"

● Foraging & Feeding: Greater Yellowlegs: Eats small aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, small fish, frogs, seeds, and berries. Forages in shallow water and mudflats; sometimes snatches insects out of the air.

● Breeding & nesting: Greater Yellowlegs: Three to four brown and gray blotched, buff eggs are laid in a slight ground depression in a damp open spot. Eggs are incubated for 23 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Greater Yellowlegs: Lesser Yellowlegs is smaller and has different voice. Solitary Sandpiper is smaller, shorter-billed, has a bolder eye-ring, a dark rump, and green legs.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering mothlike flight.

● Range & Habitat: Greater Yellowlegs: Breeds from south-central Alaska to Newfoundland. Spends winters mainly along coasts from Washington State and Virginia southward, and along the Gulf coast. Breeds on tundra and marshy ground; frequents pools, lakeshores, and tidal mudflats on migration.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight6 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America