Greater yellowlegs

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Greater yellowlegs

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
Species:
T. melanoleuca
Binomial name
Tringa melanoleuca
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
  Breeding
  Migration
  Nonbreeding
Synonyms

Totanus melanoleucus

The greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) is a large

Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America
, the West Indies and South America.

Taxonomy

The greater yellowlegs was

monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[6]

Description

The greater yellowlegs is similar in appearance to the smaller

paraphyletic.[8] They are also the largest shanks apart from the willet
, which is altogether more robustly built. The greater yellowlegs and the greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage.

Adults have long yellow legs and a long, thin, dark bill which has a slight upward curve and is longer than the head. The body is grey-brown on top and white underneath; the neck and breast are streaked with dark brown. The rump is white. It ranges in length from 29 to 40 cm (11 to 16 in) and in weight from 111 to 250 g (3.9 to 8.8 oz). Wingspan is 23.6 in (60 cm).[9]

The call is harsher, louder, and clearer than that of the lesser yellowlegs. They have a three-syllable whistle when flight-calling, with a lower pitched third syllable.

Distribution and habitat

Their breeding habitat is bogs and marshes in the

Pacific coasts of the United States, the Caribbean, and south to South America. They are very rare vagrants to western Europe.[10]

Behavior and ecology

Juvenile

Breeding

They nest on the ground, usually in well-hidden locations near water. The three to four eggs average 49 mm (1.9 in) in length and 33 mm (1.3 in) in breadth and weigh about 28 g (0.99 oz). The incubation period is 23 days. The young leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching and then leave the vicinity of the nest within two days.[10]

Food and feeding

Greater yellowlegs (right) are larger, with a proportionally longer bill than lesser yellowlegs (left). Semipalmated sandpipers] n the foreground.

These birds forage in shallow water, sometimes using their bills to stir up the water. They mainly eat insects and small fish, as well as crustaceans, marine worms, frogs, seeds and berries.[10]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693231A93392247.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 659.
  3. ^ Latham, John (1785). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 3, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 152, No. 23.
  4. ^ Pennant, Thomas (1785). Arctic Zoology. Vol. 2. London: Printed by Henry Hughs. p. 468, No. 376.
  5. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 148.
  6. ^
    Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  8. doi:10.1093/condor/107.3.514
    .
  9. ^ "Greater Yellowlegs Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  10. ^
    doi:10.2173/bow.greyel.01
    . Retrieved 7 November 2022.
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