Lesser Yellowlegs

(Tringa flavipes) (LEYE)

Photographic Identification Guide

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Fig. 9. Comparison of Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs. Winter (basic) plumage. Cape May, NJ. 2021.
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Fig. 1. Lesser Yellowlegs. Gray-brown winter (basic) plumage with pale zigzag margins. Florida. Winter.
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Fig. 11. Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitcher. Quincy, MA. 25 August 2015.
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Fig. 12. Comparison of Lesser Yellowlegs and Stilt Sandpipers. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, NJ. 26 April 2023.
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Fig. 2. Lesser Yellowlegs. Winter (basic) plumage. Note conspicuous eye ring, faintly marked flanks. Florida. Winter.
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Fig. 8. Lesser Yellowlegs. Spotted brown juvenile plumage. Quincy, MA. 25 August 2015.
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Fig. 10. Greater Yellowlegs (GRYE), Lesser Yellowlegs (LEYE), and dowitchers. Note slightly more upright stance of GRYE. Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, MA. 14 September 2022.
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Fig. 4. Lesser Yellowlegs. Winter (basic) molting to spring (alternate) plumage. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, NJ. 4 May 2023.
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Fig. 5. Lesser Yellowlegs. Spring (alternate) plumage. Hornsby Bend, Austin, TX. 21 April 2014.
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Fig.3. Lesser Yellowlegs in flight. Spring (alternate) plumage. Note lack of wing stripe. Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, TX. 12 April 2017.
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Fig. 7. Lesser Yellowlegs. Summer (alternate) beginning molt to winter (basic) plumage. Arlington Reservoir, Lexington, MA. 8 October 2021.
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Fig. 6. Lesser Yellowlegs are notoriously pugnacious fighters. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, NJ. 26 April 2023.

In this guide we provide as much detail as possible to help identify this species. When discussing plumages, we use the terms winter, spring and summer to refer to northern hemisphere seasons. Because some of these birds spend parts of the year in the northern and southern hemispheres, the correct technical terms for the plumage stages—basic and alternate—help avoid the confusion of seasonal terminology.

visual gallery

species account

The photos in this species account are arranged in this order:

Basic: winter plumage, late October to March.

See Fig. 1, Fig. 2. A few birds begin molting into winter (basic) plumage in the fall but most delay the molt until late fall or winter, after they arrive at their wintering areas.

Alternate: first spring and summer after hatch year or adult breeding plumage, March to August.

See Fig. 5. Beginning in spring, winter (basic) feathers on Lesser Yellowlegs are gradually replaced by alternate feathers. Most alternate feathers last until fall of the same year, but they display wear by July or August.

Juvenile: young birds, recently hatched, June to September.

See Fig. 8. These feathers are acquired on the breeding grounds immediately after the natal down is shed and before the young begin their migration.

The graceful and elegant Lesser Yellowlegs (LEYE) is distinguished from other medium-sized sandpipers by its long, bright yellow legs. Lesser Yellowlegs nests in swampy habitats from north-central Canada west into Alaska. Migrating Lesser Yellowlegs may be seen anywhere in wetlands in North America and wintering birds are found from the southern US all the way to the southern tip of South America.

Size and weight

Body length:

9.25–10 in. (23–25 cm)

Wingspan:

23.5–25.5 in. (59–64 cm)

Bill length:

1.3–1.6 in. (33–40 mm)

Weight:

2.4–3 oz. (68–86 g)

Calls

Lesser Yellowlegs have short clucking calls when they flush, usually transcribed as tu-tu, often a series of two notes, sometimes three. They also have a yodeling call that is similar to one given by Greater Yellowlegs.

Calls in Viera Wetlands, FL, 2014:

Calls in Valdez-Cordova, AK, 2015:

Yodeling, Magee Marsh, Ohio, 2007:

Plumage and other characteristics

Bill is short, thin and straight, about the same length as the head; see Fig. 1.

In all plumages, Lesser Yellowlegs displays a conspicuous white eye ring; see Fig. 1, Fig. 2.

Winter (basic) mantle of Lesser Yellowlegs, as with most winter shorebirds, is gray. Each gray back (mantle) feather has pale zigzag margins and is bisected by a darker center shaft. Undersides of winter (basic) bird are white with faintly marked flanks; the neck and head are streaked; see Fig. 1, Fig. 2.

In winter (basic) and spring or summer (alternate) plumage, tertials (long feathers covering the primaries when the wings are folded) are strongly barred with dark brown; see Fig. 2, Fig. 4, Fig. 5.

For spring and summer (alternate) plumage, Lesser Yellowlegs acquires contrasting, black-centered feathers on the mantle and heavier streaking on the neck and head. The flanks are barred with strong black and white marks that spread to the underbelly; see Fig. 5.

Spring (alternate) and summer (alternate) are the same plumage, but as the seasons progress, Lesser Yellowlegs alternate plumage begins to look different because the feathers become worn.

Most Lesser Yellowlegs retain their summer (alternate) or juvenile plumage until they reach the wintering areas. Some occasionally show signs of molt in the fall; see Fig. 7.

Newly fledged young birds arrive from northern Canadian breeding grounds in late summer, displaying a fresh, spotted mantle. The tertial feathers (long feathers that cover most of the primaries) have pale zigzag margins; see Fig. 8.

Flight features (most are shown in Fig. 3):

Top side of wings are gray with no wing stripes.
Underwings have pale barring and spotting.
Outer primaries are dark, unmarked gray.
Inner primaries, secondaries, tertials and inner wing coverts are finely spotted.
Rump is white.
Tail tip is barred gray and white.

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Breeding range, migration, wintering range, habitat

Lesser Yellowlegs forage in salt marshes as well as along shallow edges of lakes and oceans. They forage for mud worms, insect larvae and other small prey.

Lesser Yellowlegs often stay and feed in a salt marsh or shallow pond throughout a tide cycle, as opposed to Greater Yellowlegs, which often fly out to shallow tidal areas to feed at low tide, then return to roost in salt marshes at high tide.

Lesser Yellowlegs breeds in subarctic regions of Canada and Alaska in swampy muskeg habitats.

Lesser Yellowlegs migrations cover nearly the entire western hemisphere except for arctic regions; they are among the most widespread of western hemisphere shorebirds.

The winter range covers the southeastern and southernmost US and all the way to southern South America.

Similar species

Lesser Yellowlegs compared to Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs (LEYE) and Greater Yellowlegs (GRYE) have similar habitats, habits and general looks; they can be surprisingly difficult to distinguish unless they are together. When seen together, the size difference makes them unmistakable; see Fig. 9, Fig. 10, Fig. 11.

Note the following:

Lesser Yellowlegs’ bill length is about equal to the length of the head, in some cases perhaps slightly longer. Greater Yellowlegs’ bill length is 1.25-1.5 times the length of the head.
Lesser Yellowlegs’ bill is relatively thin throughout, and straight. Greater Yellowlegs’ bill is thick at the base and tapers and curves upward about halfway out.
Lesser Yellowlegs’ bill is usually all black in the winter. The inner third of Greater Yellowlegs’ bill is often pale.
Lesser Yellowlegs is overall browner than the slightly more grayish Greater Yellowlegs.
Greater Yellowlegs is breast heavy, with more of the mass of its body ahead of the legs. As a result, when perched, Greater Yellowlegs stands more upright in order to balance its weight; see Fig. 10.
Lesser Yellowlegs calls are shorter, with a clucking quality; usually repeated only twice, occasionally three notes or more. Greater Yellowlegs generally has a piercing three-note call but it can also contain up to five notes.
Lesser Yellowlegs tends to stay in salt marshes throughout a tide cycle, feeding on small invertebrates. Greater Yellowlegs moves with the tides more, feeding in marshes at high tide but moving to shallow coastal areas at lower tides. They often chase fish.

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Lesser Yellowlegs compared to Dowitchers

Lesser Yellowlegs (LEYE) and dowitchers (either species) are similar in body size; dowitchers appear short and chunky while Lesser Yellowlegs appears tall and sleek.

Note the following:

Spring and summer (alternate) and winter (basic) dowitcher plumage is duller brown than the speckled gray-brown of Lesser Yellowlegs; see Fig. 10.
Juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher has dull-colored grayish or greenish legs and a rusty overall look compared to the specked gray of juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs with bright yellow legs; see Fig. 11. Short-billed Dowitcher’s bill is tubular and blunt tipped. Lesser Yellowlegs’ bill is tapered and pointed.
The prominent facial feature of Lesser Yellowlegs is a white eye ring. The main facial feature of Short-billed Dowitcher is a prominent eyebrow (supercilium) and a prominent cap.
In flight, Lesser Yellowlegs has a faintly barred white tail and all gray wings; Short-billed Dowitcher has a prominent white stripe up the center of the back and pale tips to the rear inner half of the wings (secondary flight feathers) as seen from above; see Short-billed Dowitcher Fig. 24.

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Lesser Yellowlegs compared to Stilt Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs (LEYE) and Stilt Sandpiper (STSA) are similar in size, with Lesser Yellowlegs slightly longer-bodied and longer-necked. For an illustration of these and other features, see Fig. 12.

Lesser Yellowlegs’ bill is straight, tapered and fine-tipped. Stilt Sandpiper’s bill is longer, slightly down-curved and blunt at the tip.
Lesser Yellowlegs’ legs are bright yellow; Stilt Sandpiper’s legs are greenish or brownish-yellow. (But beware of mud-stained legs.)
Lesser Yellowlegs has a conspicuous eye ring in all plumages. Stilt Sandpiper has a pale supercilium (white eyebrow). In spring and summer (alternate) plumage, Stilt Sandpiper has a smudgy rufous patch through the eye.
Mantle and upperparts of Lesser Yellowlegs are checkered or spotted, unlike the gray or splotchy Stilt Sandpiper mantle.

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