Medium. A short, straight, thin, dark bill. Long yellow legs. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Upperparts, grey, underparts, white. Eyebrow, white. Breast, finely streaked. Flanks and sides have fine, short bars. Bill, black. A white rump, and whitish tail, clearly visible in flight. Legs, yellow, but may have an orange tone. Legs extend well beyond tail in flight. Non-breeding: Upperparts, grey or grey-brown, with alternating light and dark notches on the feather edges. Underparts, white, except for the breast which has obscure streaking.
Juveniles: Similar to non-breeding adult, except the upperparts have bold white spots on coverts and scapulars.
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada (B) (P), Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica (NB), Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (NB), United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay (NB), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB).
Vagrant to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Marshall Islands, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Population
Estimated population is 400,000 (2010).
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) [XC257513]
by Jesse Fagan from Manab\u00ed: Pedernales, Ecuador (alarm call, alarm calls)
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) [XC674501]
by Franco Vushurovich from Santa Rita do Novo Destino, Goi\u00e1s, Ch\u00e1cara Jayrson, Brazil (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)
Slightly smaller. Bill is longer and is slightly decurved. Has paler underparts and no barring on the tail.
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Larger. Bill is longer, thicker and often slightly up-curved. Call is more piercing and notes are longer.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9