Bird Guide › Lesser Yellowlegs

How to Identify aLesser Yellowlegs

Tringa flavipes · 9.1–10.6 in (23–27 cm)

Male vs. female

Male

Gray-brown flecked white above, whitish below, with long lemon-yellow legs and a fine straight dark bill. Sexes look alike.

Female

Identical to the male in the field.

Male photo: Rhododendrites / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Rhododendrites / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick ID

A slim gray shorebird on bright yellow legs, with a straight bill no longer than its head.

Field marks

Bill straight and about the same length as the head
Bright yellow legs
White rump in flight with a finely barred tail
Delicate, small-headed look

Similar species

Greater Yellowlegs — Bigger, with a bill clearly longer than the head and slightly upturned, and a loud three-note call.

Solitary Sandpiper — Has olive-green legs and a bold white eye-ring.

What it sounds like

A soft, flat, one- or two-note "tew tew", much less strident than a Greater Yellowlegs.

Behaviour that gives it away

Picks daintily at the water surface rather than chasing fish, which separates it from the Greater at any distance.

Habitat & range

Mudflats, flooded fields, marsh edges and pond margins on migration.

When you'll see it

Depending on where in North America you are, it is a winter visitor and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.

What it eats

Aquatic insects, small crustaceans and worms.

Did you know?

Telling it from the Greater Yellowlegs is a classic birding puzzle, and voice remains the most reliable clue.

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