Greater Yellowlegs

Tringa melanoleucaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: GRYE Scientific Name: TRIMEL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176619

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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.

Topo Map: Sandpiper-like Body

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.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Imran Kahn

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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

Sandpiper-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America