Greater Yellowlegs - BirdForum Opus

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Tringa melanoleuca

Photo by cspratt
location: Victoria, British Columbia

Identification

Easily confused with Lesser Yellowlegs, but much larger (11 1/2 to 13 1/4 inches in length). Bill is longer, about 1.5x the size of the head from front to back, where head and bill are about equal in Lesser Yellowlegs. Bill is also stronger and often slightly upturned. Legs are proportionately stronger, especially the "heel" (where you would expect the knee to be).

Distribution

Breeds Alaska and Canada; winters to southern South America

Taxonomy

Photo by onlybill
Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, July 2008

This is a monotypic species^[1].

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Greater Yellowlegs. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 6 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Greater_Yellowlegs

External Links

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