Bird of the Week – Greater Yellowlegs
Happily, the range of the Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs rarely overlap in Alaska. If you see the bird in Southcentral or Southeastern Alaska, it’s probably a Greater Yellowlegs.
Greater Yellowlegs, Westchester Lagoon, Anchorage
The Greater is, as the label suggests, somewhat larger than the Lesser Yellowlegs, but unless you have them side-by-side, it’s hard to tell. The bill is significantly longer in the Greater, longer than the head, which sometimes helps. The call is very different, but the Greaters aren’t quite as vocal as the Lessers.
But if birding were easy, if telling Lessers from Greaters were easy, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
Camera geek stuff: f5.6, 1/800, ISO320.
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
All these feathered friends pics are fantastic,but don’t you have any pics of evil,right wing dingbats to scare our grandkids with?
This is the first yellowlegs I’ve ever seen. Lovely.