We ended up with 85 birds on our Reelfoot NWR and Reelfoot Lake State Park list
Lesser Yellowlegs
More social than Greaters and tend to feed among groups of smaller shorebirds.
Slower and more deliberate than Greaters when feeding
They tend to pick at the surface and cover less ground than Greaters when feeding
Greater Yellowlegs
Tend to feed with larger birds like herons and egrets.
They tend to fly a long way if flushed.
It’s not often one gets to see the Greaters and Lessers standing next to each other, especially in breeding plumage and in a single camera shot. But here the differences between the two species become more apparent.
1. The Greater is larger
2. The greater has extensive dark bars on its flanks that are not present on the Lesser
3. Usually there is an ever-so-faint upturn to the larger bill (longer than its head) of the Greater while the bill of the Lesser is shorter (about as long as its head) and straight.
Greater is flying with the Lesser in the foreground
Greater Yellowlegs
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