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Lesser Yellowlegs

Tringa flavipes

Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Sandpipers and Allies
Lesser Yellowlegs, photographed by Beto_MdP

Photo: Beto_MdP · Pixabay · Pixabay Content License (licence)

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Call and song

About the Lesser Yellowlegs

Medium-sized shorebird with bright yellow legs. Plumage is essentially identical to Greater Yellowlegs: gray upperparts with white speckling, streaky neck, and white belly. Proportions are most important for identification. Lesser is smaller overall with shorter, narrower, straighter bill, shorter neck, more rounded head, and smaller chest. Forages actively on mudflats and in shallow pools and marshes, often in loose mixed flocks with Greater Yellowlegs. Somewhat more likely to be found in smaller, marshier habitats than Greater, but much overlap. Listen for soft, whistled “tew” calls, typically only one or two notes, unlike the stronger series of notes from Greater.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 99 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

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