Lesser yellowlegs

The lesser yellowlegs was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Scolopax and coined the binomial name Scolopax flavipes.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=659 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656152 }} Gmelin based his description on the "yellow shanks" seen in the province of New York in autumn that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist John Latham and the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant.{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=152-153, No. 24 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40078917 }}{{cite book | last=Pennant | first=Thomas | author-link=Thomas Pennant | year=1785 | title=Arctic Zoology | volume=2 | publisher=Printed by Henry Hughs | location=London | page=468, No. 378 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32122248 }} The lesser yellowlegs is now placed in the genus Tringa that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=148 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727055 }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Sandpipers, snipes, coursers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sandpipers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=6 November 2022}} The name Tringa is the Neo-Latin word given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific epithet flavipes combines the Latin flavus meaning "yellow" with pes meaning "foot".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n390/mode/1up 390], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n161/mode/1up 161]}} The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-large shorebird, {{cvt|23|-|25|cm}} in overall length and with a wingspan of {{cvt|59|-|64|cm}} and a weight of {{cvt|67|-|94|g}}. The sexes are similar both in plumage and in overall size. In breeding plumage, the upperparts are mottled with gray-brown, black and white. The underparts are white with irregular brown streaking on the breast and neck. In non-breeding plumage, the upperparts are more uniform gray-brown.{{cite journal | last1=Tibbitts | first1=T.L. | last2=Moskoff | first2=W. | year=2020 | title=Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), version 1.0 | editor-last=Poole | editor-first=A.F. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.lesyel.01 | s2cid=216475862 | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lesyel.01 | access-date=25 September 2020 | url-access=subscription }} The legs are yellow. Compared to the greater yellowlegs, the bill is shorter (visually about the same length as the head), slim, straight, and uniformly dark. The breast is streaked and the flanks are finely marked with short bars.{{cite book |editor1-last=Scott |editor1-first=Shirley L. |year=1994 |title=Field Guide to the Birds of North America |publisher=The National Geographic Society |isbn=0-87044-692-4 |edition=2nd |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetobird00nati_0/page/114 114–115, 137] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetobird00nati_0/page/114 }}

File:Lesser yellowlegs at JBWR (30664).jpg

Image:Lesser Yellowlegs chicks.JPG

File:Lesser and greater yellowlegs (96183).jpg (right). Semipalmated sandpipers in the foreground.]]

This species is similar in appearance to the larger greater yellowlegs, although it is more closely related to the much larger willet;{{cite journal |author1=Pereira, Sérgio Luiz |author2=Baker, Alan J. |year=2005 |title=Multiple gene evidence for parallel evolution and retention of ancestral morphological states in the shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae) |journal=The Condor |volume=107 |issue=3 |pages=514–526 |doi=10.1650/0010-5422(2005)107[0514:MGEFPE]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=86221767 |url=http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&issn=0010-5422&volume=107&issue=03&page=0514|doi-access=free }} the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck shown in breeding plumage indicates these species' actual relationships.

The call of this bird is softer than that of the greater yellowlegs.

They migrate to the Gulf coast of the United States, the Caribbean, and south to South America.

This species is a regular vagrant to western Europe; in Great Britain about five birds arrive each year, mostly between August and October,{{cite web|url=https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/lesser-yellowlegs|title=Lesser Yellowlegs (species profile)|website=British Trust for Ornithology|access-date=11 August 2024}} with the occasional individual overwintering. Their breeding habitat is clearings near ponds in the boreal forest region from Alaska to Quebec.

The nest is a depression on dry mossy ground and is usually well hidden. The clutch is normally four eggs. These are buff or gray-brown and are covered in spots of various shades of brown. On average they measure {{cvt|42|x|29|mm}}. They are incubated for 22-23 days by both sexes. Both parents brood and care for the precocial young which leave the nest a few hours after hatching. They can feed themselves on departure from the nest. They fly at 23 to 31 days.

Lesser yellowlegs forage in shallow water, sometimes using their bill to stir up the water. They mainly eat insects (such as flies, beetles, water boatmen, and mayflies),{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tringa_flavipes/ | title=Tringa flavipes (Lesser yellowlegs) | website=Animal Diversity Web }} small fish, crustaceans, aquatic worms, molluscs (such as snails), spiders, and seeds.{{cite web|title=Tringa flavipes (Lesser Yellowlegs)|website=The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago|publisher=UWI |url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Tringa_flavipes%20-%20Lesser%20Yellowlegs.pdf}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Tringa flavipes}}

{{Wikispecies|Tringa flavipes}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Yellowlegs/ |title=Lesser Yellowlegs |website=Cornell Lab of Ornithology}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2550id.html |title=Lesser yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes|website=USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111062822/https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2550id.html |archive-date=11 January 2017}}
• {{Avibase|name=Tringa flavipes}}
• {{InternetBirdCollection|lesser-yellowlegs-tringa-flavipes|Lesser yellowlegs}}
• {{VIREO|Lesser+Yellowlegs|Lesser yellowlegs}}
• {{IUCN_Map|22693235/208218115|Tringa flavipes}}

{{Scolopacidae|2}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q28000}}

lesser yellowlegs

Category:Native birds of Alaska

Category:Birds of Canada

Category:Birds of the Dominican Republic

Category:Wintering birds of South America

lesser yellowlegs

Category:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin