Lesser Yellowlegs

Status Common transient. It is rather uncommon in spring, generally first appearing after mid-April, with a few reliably identified birds reported earlier (average 20 April, earliest 1 April). Last spring sightings are usually in late May (average 23 May, latest 7 June). A few probable non-breeders have occurred in late June, but first migrants generally appear in early July (average 11 July, earliest 1 July). Peak numbers are found from late July through early September; stragglers are routine in November (average 6 November, latest 28 November).

Description Length: 25-28 cm. All plumages: Like the Greater Yellowlegs but noticeably smaller when a direct comparison is possible. The bill is proportionally shorter, straighter and more slender.

Range Breeds from Alaska to Quebec, mostly north of cultivation. Winters from the Gulf States to the West Indies, Chile and Argentina.

Remarks Its call is distinctively different from that of the Greater Yellowlegs, and this simplifies field identification when the two species are not seen together for comparison of size difference. The call of the Greater Yellowlegs consists of three or four high-pitched, rapidly repeated, whistled notes with a slightly descending cadence, but the Lesser Yellowlegs' call is two sharp, whistled notes that suggest alarm, quickly repeated several times and usually given at the moment the bird is flushed.

This bird is usually seen singly or in small numbers about the brackish pools which are common in low-lying marshy areas along the coast, but it sometimes occurs in large flocks early in the season.

As evidence of their power of flight, a Lesser Yellowlegs banded on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was recovered six days later on the island of Martinique in the southern Caribbean Sea, about 3,000 km away.