Greater Yellowlegs

Tringa melanoleucaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Breeding Location:

Marshes, freshwater, Swamps, Grasslands

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

Buff blotched with brown and gray

Number of Eggs:

3 - 4

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Lined with grasses or leaves.

Migration:

Migratory

Overview

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.

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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Vocalization

Greater Yellowlegs: Makes a series of musical, whistled notes "whew-whew-whew."

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.

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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

● 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