Lesser Yellowlegs

The Lesser Yellowlegs is a slender, elegant sandpiper closely resembling its larger relative, the Greater Yellowlegs, but noticeably smaller and more delicate in build. Its legs are long and bright yellow, and its bill is thin, straight, and proportionally shorter—roughly equal to the length of its head, unlike the longer, slightly upturned bill of the Greater Yellowlegs.

Plumage is gray-brown above with fine spotting, and white below, with more streaking on the breast during breeding season.

It breeds in the boreal forest and forest-tundra transition zone of North America and undertakes long migrations to wintering grounds across the southern United States, Central America, and South America.

Key field marks

• Long, bright yellow legs
• Thin, straight, needle-like bill, about equal to head length
• Gray-brown, finely spotted upperparts
• Softer, quieter call than Greater Yellowlegs

Similar species

• Greater Yellowlegs is larger with a longer, slightly upturned bill and a louder, more insistent call.
• Solitary Sandpiper lacks yellow legs and shows a dark, bold eye-ring and darker overall plumage.

Lesser Yellowlegs breed in open boreal forest clearings, muskeg, and the forest-tundra transition zone across Alaska and Canada. During migration and winter they occupy shallow freshwater and brackish wetlands, mudflats, flooded fields, and marshes, wintering from the southern United States through Central America to southern South America.

Voice

A soft, one- or two-note whistled call, often rendered as tu or tu-tu, notably quieter and less insistent than the sharper, louder call of the Greater Yellowlegs.

Feeding

Forages by picking and probing in shallow water and mud for insects and small crustaceans; less prone to actively chasing fish than the Greater Yellowlegs, though it occasionally does so.

Nesting

Nests on the ground in open, often burned or sparsely treed boreal habitat, in a shallow scrape lined with a few leaves or grasses. Both parents share incubation, and adults give alarm calls and perform distraction displays to protect the nest.