Lesser Yellowlegs

The male’s flight song circles through ringing pil-la-wee phrases over his breeding territory.

Breeds across the taiga of Alaska and Canada. Migrates through most of the United States and the Caribbean. Winters from the southern U.S. through Central America to southern South America.

Freshwater and brackish marshes, flooded fields, mudflats, pond margins, and the vegetated edges of lakes and rivers; breeds in muskeg bogs and wet meadows of the boreal forest.

Northbound migration peaks Mar–May; breeding May–Jul; southbound migration Jul–Oct; winters Aug–Apr in the Neotropics.

A slim, medium–sized shorebird with striking lemon-yellow legs and a neat, straight dark bill. Lesser Yellowlegs forage energetically in shallow water, often darting and lunging after small prey items. They are noticeably smaller and more delicately built than their look-alike, the Greater Yellowlegs.