LESSER YELLOWLEGS
Lesser Yellowlegs are elegant, medium-sized shorebirds with slender bodies, long necks, and bright yellow legs that stay vivid year-round. Males and females look nearly identical, though females have slightly longer wings on average.
In breeding plumage, they show bold mottling of gray-brown, white, and black above, with white underparts heavily streaked in brown on the neck and breast, plus blackish barring on the flanks. In nonbreeding plumage, they are plainer gray-brown above with fine gray streaking on the neck and breast. Juveniles are browner with more spotting, while first-winter birds show pale notching on the tertials.
They breed in the bogs and tundra of Alaska and northern Canada, then make long migrations of up to 8,000 miles to winter as far south as Patagonia. Florida is a key stopover and wintering area, where they are commonly seen in shallow marshes, coastal mudflats, pond edges, flooded fields, and estuaries, especially during spring and fall migration.
Active foragers, they wade belly-deep, picking insects, snails, worms, and crustaceans, often swinging their bill side-to-side to stir up prey. They are known for their sharp, ringing “tu-tu” calls and alert nature.
