Lesser yellowlegs: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Species of medium-sized shorebird}} | {{short description|Species of medium-sized shorebird}} | ||
{{Speciesbox | {{Speciesbox | ||
| image = Lesser | | image = Lesser yellowlegs (32690).jpg | ||
| status = VU | | status = VU | ||
| status_system = IUCN3.1 | | status_system = IUCN3.1 | ||
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2024 |title=''Tringa flavipes'' |volume=2024 | | | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2024 |title=''Tringa flavipes'' |volume=2024 |article-number=e.T22693235A208218115 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22693235A208218115.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | ||
| taxon = Tringa flavipes | | taxon = Tringa flavipes | ||
| authority = ([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1789) | | authority = ([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1789) | ||
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==Taxonomy== | ==Taxonomy== | ||
The lesser yellowlegs was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1789 by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in his revised and expanded edition of [[Carl Linnaeus]]'s ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it in the [[genus]] ''[[Scolopax]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Scolopax flavipes''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=659 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656152 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on the "yellow shanks" seen in the province of New York in autumn that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] and the Welsh naturalist [[Thomas Pennant]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=152-153, No. 24 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40078917 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Pennant | first=Thomas | author-link=Thomas Pennant | year=1785 | title=Arctic Zoology | volume=2 | publisher=Printed by Henry Hughs | location=London | page=468, No. 378 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32122248 }}</ref> The lesser yellowlegs is now placed in the genus ''[[Tringa]]'' that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=148 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727055 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Sandpipers, snipes, coursers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sandpipers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=6 November 2022}}</ref> The name ''Tringa'' is the [[Neo-Latin]] word given to the [[green sandpiper]] by the Italian naturalist [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]] in 1603 based on [[Ancient Greek]] ''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by [[Aristotle]]. The specific epithet ''flavipes'' combines the [[Latin]] ''flavus'' meaning "yellow" with ''pes'' meaning "foot".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n390/mode/1up 390], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n161/mode/1up 161]}}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]]: no [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc/> | The lesser yellowlegs was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1789 by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in his revised and expanded edition of [[Carl Linnaeus]]'s ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it in the [[genus]] ''[[Scolopax]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Scolopax flavipes''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=659 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656152 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on the "yellow shanks" seen in the province of New York in autumn that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] and the Welsh naturalist [[Thomas Pennant]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=152-153, No. 24 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40078917 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Pennant | first=Thomas | author-link=Thomas Pennant | year=1785 | title=Arctic Zoology | volume=2 | publisher=Printed by Henry Hughs | location=London | page=468, No. 378 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32122248 }}</ref> The lesser yellowlegs is now placed in the genus ''[[Tringa]]'' that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=148 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727055 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Sandpipers, snipes, coursers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sandpipers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=6 November 2022}}</ref> The name ''Tringa'' is the [[Neo-Latin]] word given to the [[green sandpiper]] by the Italian naturalist [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]] in 1603 based on [[Ancient Greek]] ''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by [[Aristotle]]. The specific epithet ''flavipes'' combines the [[Latin]] ''flavus'' meaning "yellow" with ''pes'' meaning "foot".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n390/mode/1up 390], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n161/mode/1up 161]}}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]]: no [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc/> | ||
==Description== | ==Description== | ||
The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-large shorebird, {{cvt|23|-|25|cm}} in overall length and with a wingspan of {{cvt|59|-|64|cm}} and a weight of {{cvt|67|-|94|g}}. The sexes are similar both in plumage and in overall size. In breeding plumage, the upperparts are mottled with gray-brown, black and white. The underparts are white with irregular brown streaking on the breast and neck. In non-breeding plumage, the upperparts are more uniform gray-brown.<ref name=bow>{{cite journal | last1=Tibbitts | first1=T.L. | last2=Moskoff | first2=W. | year=2020 | title=Lesser Yellowlegs (''Tringa flavipes''), version 1.0 | editor-last=Poole | editor-first=A.F. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.lesyel.01 | s2cid=216475862 | The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-large shorebird, {{cvt|23|-|25|cm}} in overall length and with a wingspan of {{cvt|59|-|64|cm}} and a weight of {{cvt|67|-|94|g}}. The sexes are similar both in plumage and in overall size. In breeding plumage, the upperparts are mottled with gray-brown, black and white. The underparts are white with irregular brown streaking on the breast and neck. In non-breeding plumage, the upperparts are more uniform gray-brown.<ref name=bow>{{cite journal | last1=Tibbitts | first1=T.L. | last2=Moskoff | first2=W. | year=2020 | title=Lesser Yellowlegs (''Tringa flavipes''), version 1.0 | editor-last=Poole | editor-first=A.F. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.lesyel.01 | s2cid=216475862 }}</ref> The legs are yellow. Compared to the greater yellowlegs, the bill is shorter (visually about the same length as the head), slim, straight, and uniformly dark. The breast is streaked and the flanks are finely marked with short bars.<ref name=NGSBirds>{{cite book |editor1-last=Scott |editor1-first=Shirley L. |year=1994 |title=Field Guide to the Birds of North America |publisher=The National Geographic Society |isbn=0-87044-692-4 |edition=2nd |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetobird00nati_0/page/114 114–115, 137] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetobird00nati_0/page/114 }}</ref> | ||
[[File:Lesser yellowlegs at JBWR (30664).jpg|thumb|Lesser yellowlegs foraging in Queens, New York]] | [[File:Lesser yellowlegs at JBWR (30664).jpg|thumb|Lesser yellowlegs foraging in Queens, New York]] | ||
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==Distribution and habitat== | ==Distribution and habitat== | ||
The lesser yellowlegs breeds across interior Alaska and northern Canada, extending eastward to central Quebec. Its breeding range lies primarily between 51° and 69° N latitude in appropriate wetland habitats.<ref name="ADW" /> | |||
This species is a regular vagrant to western Europe; in [[Great Britain]] about five birds arrive each year, mostly between August and October,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/lesser-yellowlegs|title=Lesser Yellowlegs (species profile)|website=British Trust for Ornithology|access-date=11 August 2024}}</ref> with the occasional individual overwintering. Their breeding habitat is clearings near ponds in the [[Taiga|boreal forest]] region from [[Alaska]] to [[Quebec]]. | |||
The lesser yellowlegs is a highly migratory bird. During winter, lesser yellowlegs at the Atlantic coast of North America, from New Jersey southward, travel along the Pacific coast as far north as San Francisco Bay, and throughout the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California. They are widely distributed in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Antilles, with the largest populations found wintering in these regions. Smaller numbers also winter inland throughout this range.<ref name="ADW" />This species is a regular vagrant to western Europe and elsewhere; in [[Great Britain]] about five birds arrive each year, mostly between August and October,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/lesser-yellowlegs|title=Lesser Yellowlegs (species profile)|website=British Trust for Ornithology|access-date=11 August 2024}}</ref> with the occasional individual overwintering. Their breeding habitat is clearings near ponds in the [[Taiga|boreal forest]] region from [[Alaska]] to [[Quebec]]. | |||
==Behavior and ecology== | ==Behavior and ecology== | ||
===Breeding=== | ===Breeding=== | ||
[[File:Lesser Yellowlegs' eggs.jpg|thumb|Hatching Lesser Yellowlegs nest near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. The egg on the far left of the frame is ‘pipped’, meaning that the chick’s bill has broken through the egg membrane and shell and will emerge within 24 hours.]] | |||
The nest is a depression on dry mossy ground and is usually well hidden, typically within 200 meters of a water source and next to fallen branches, logs, or underneath low shrubs. The clutch is normally three to five eggs. These are buff or gray-brown and are covered in spots of various shades of brown. On average, the egg length is about 1.5 to 1.9 in(3.9-4.7 cm), and the egg width is about 1.1 to 1.2 in(2.7-3.1 cm). They are incubated for 22-23 days by both sexes. Both parents brood and care for the precocial young, which leave the nest a few hours after hatching. They can feed themselves upon departure from the nest. They fly at 23 to 31 days.<ref name=bow/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lesser Yellowlegs Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Yellowlegs/overview |access-date=2025-12-05 |website=www.allaboutbirds.org |language=en}}</ref> | |||
===Food and feeding=== | |||
Lesser yellowlegs forage in shallow water or on land. They eat primarily invertebrates gleaned (such as flies, beetles, [[Corixidae|water boatmen]], and mayflies),<ref name=ADW>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tringa_flavipes/ | title=''Tringa flavipes'' (Lesser yellowlegs) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> <ref name=":0" />small fish, crustaceans, aquatic worms, molluscs (such as snails), spiders, and seeds.<ref>{{cite web|title=''Tringa flavipes'' (Lesser Yellowlegs)|website=The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago|publisher=[[University of the West Indies|UWI]] |url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Tringa_flavipes%20-%20Lesser%20Yellowlegs.pdf}}</ref><ref name=ADW/>They are very active when foraging, moving quickly with a high-stepping gait, neck outstretched, to pick at prey with quick jabs of the bill. Less often, they probe into mud or sweep the bill back and forth through water. Sometimes forages at night.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
=== Predation === | |||
A wide variety of avian predators put lesser yellowlegs as their food. Peregrine falcons, merlins, long-tailed jaegers, northern harriers, northern goshawks, sharp-shinned hawks, short-eared owls, and gyrfalcons are the main predators of Adult lesser yellowlegs and their fledglings. In addition, Adult lesser yellowlegs protect their nest and eggs(fledglings) in the way of attacking potential predators. Sandhill cranes, peregrine falcons, merlins, northern harriers, bald eagles, mew gulls, herring gulls, short-eared owls, common ravens, black-billed magpies, coyotes, and domestic cats are the predators who eat baby lesser yellowlegs and their eggs.<ref name="ADW" /> | |||
Lesser yellowlegs, when defending their nests and young from predators, will show aggression and enthusiastically fight with invaders, including joining together to fight with predators. Nesting Little Yellow Legs are very reluctant to leave their nests, only leaving when a predator is less than 1 meter away to fight and keep the predators away from their nest. They may swoop down to attack the predator or use distraction strategies to lure it away.<ref name="ADW" /> | |||
Lesser yellowlegs | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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{{Wikispecies|Tringa flavipes}} | {{Wikispecies|Tringa flavipes}} | ||
* {{cite web|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Yellowlegs/ |title=Lesser Yellowlegs |website=Cornell Lab of Ornithology}} | * {{cite web|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Yellowlegs/ |title=Lesser Yellowlegs |website=Cornell Lab of Ornithology}} | ||
* {{cite web|url= | * {{cite web|url=https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2550id.html |title=Lesser yellowlegs - ''Tringa flavipes''|website=USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111062822/https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2550id.html |archive-date=11 January 2017}} | ||
* {{Avibase|name=Tringa flavipes}} | * {{Avibase|name=Tringa flavipes}} | ||
* {{InternetBirdCollection|lesser-yellowlegs-tringa-flavipes|Lesser yellowlegs}} | * {{InternetBirdCollection|lesser-yellowlegs-tringa-flavipes|Lesser yellowlegs}} | ||
Latest revision as of 20:47, 6 December 2025
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
The lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America.
Taxonomy
The lesser yellowlegs was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Scolopax and coined the binomial name Scolopax flavipes.[1] Gmelin based his description on the "yellow shanks" seen in the province of New York in autumn that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist John Latham and the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant.[2][3] The lesser yellowlegs is now placed in the genus Tringa that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[4][5] The name Tringa is the Neo-Latin word given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific epithet flavipes combines the Latin flavus meaning "yellow" with pes meaning "foot".[6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[5]
Description
The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-large shorebird, Template:Cvt in overall length and with a wingspan of Template:Cvt and a weight of Template:Cvt. The sexes are similar both in plumage and in overall size. In breeding plumage, the upperparts are mottled with gray-brown, black and white. The underparts are white with irregular brown streaking on the breast and neck. In non-breeding plumage, the upperparts are more uniform gray-brown.[7] The legs are yellow. Compared to the greater yellowlegs, the bill is shorter (visually about the same length as the head), slim, straight, and uniformly dark. The breast is streaked and the flanks are finely marked with short bars.[8]
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This species is similar in appearance to the larger greater yellowlegs, although it is more closely related to the much larger willet;[9] the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck shown in breeding plumage indicates these species' actual relationships.
The call of this bird is softer than that of the greater yellowlegs.
Distribution and habitat
The lesser yellowlegs breeds across interior Alaska and northern Canada, extending eastward to central Quebec. Its breeding range lies primarily between 51° and 69° N latitude in appropriate wetland habitats.[10]
The lesser yellowlegs is a highly migratory bird. During winter, lesser yellowlegs at the Atlantic coast of North America, from New Jersey southward, travel along the Pacific coast as far north as San Francisco Bay, and throughout the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California. They are widely distributed in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Antilles, with the largest populations found wintering in these regions. Smaller numbers also winter inland throughout this range.[10]This species is a regular vagrant to western Europe and elsewhere; in Great Britain about five birds arrive each year, mostly between August and October,[11] with the occasional individual overwintering. Their breeding habitat is clearings near ponds in the boreal forest region from Alaska to Quebec.
Behavior and ecology
Breeding
The nest is a depression on dry mossy ground and is usually well hidden, typically within 200 meters of a water source and next to fallen branches, logs, or underneath low shrubs. The clutch is normally three to five eggs. These are buff or gray-brown and are covered in spots of various shades of brown. On average, the egg length is about 1.5 to 1.9 in(3.9-4.7 cm), and the egg width is about 1.1 to 1.2 in(2.7-3.1 cm). They are incubated for 22-23 days by both sexes. Both parents brood and care for the precocial young, which leave the nest a few hours after hatching. They can feed themselves upon departure from the nest. They fly at 23 to 31 days.[7][12]
Food and feeding
Lesser yellowlegs forage in shallow water or on land. They eat primarily invertebrates gleaned (such as flies, beetles, water boatmen, and mayflies),[10] [12]small fish, crustaceans, aquatic worms, molluscs (such as snails), spiders, and seeds.[13][10]They are very active when foraging, moving quickly with a high-stepping gait, neck outstretched, to pick at prey with quick jabs of the bill. Less often, they probe into mud or sweep the bill back and forth through water. Sometimes forages at night.[12]
Predation
A wide variety of avian predators put lesser yellowlegs as their food. Peregrine falcons, merlins, long-tailed jaegers, northern harriers, northern goshawks, sharp-shinned hawks, short-eared owls, and gyrfalcons are the main predators of Adult lesser yellowlegs and their fledglings. In addition, Adult lesser yellowlegs protect their nest and eggs(fledglings) in the way of attacking potential predators. Sandhill cranes, peregrine falcons, merlins, northern harriers, bald eagles, mew gulls, herring gulls, short-eared owls, common ravens, black-billed magpies, coyotes, and domestic cats are the predators who eat baby lesser yellowlegs and their eggs.[10]
Lesser yellowlegs, when defending their nests and young from predators, will show aggression and enthusiastically fight with invaders, including joining together to fight with predators. Nesting Little Yellow Legs are very reluctant to leave their nests, only leaving when a predator is less than 1 meter away to fight and keep the predators away from their nest. They may swoop down to attack the predator or use distraction strategies to lure it away.[10]
References
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External links
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