Greater Yellowlegs

Overview

The Greater Yellowlegs is a tall, elegant shorebird easily recognized by its bright yellow legs and long, slightly upturned bill. Gray-brown upperparts are heavily spotted with white, and in breeding plumage the underparts show bold dark streaking and barring. Often wary and vocal, it is frequently the first bird to give an alarm call at a wetland, alerting other species to danger.

It closely resembles the smaller Lesser Yellowlegs, and the two require careful attention to bill shape and proportions to separate reliably.

Feather Identification

• Upperparts: Gray-brown feathers with bold white spotting and notching along the edges, giving a checkered appearance, especially on the scapulars and wing coverts.
• Underparts (breeding): Bold dark streaking on the neck and breast grading into barring on the flanks; non-breeding birds are plainer gray-white.
• Bill: Long, heavy, and slightly upturned, often bicolored with a darker tip, longer relative to head size than the Lesser Yellowlegs.
• Legs: Bright yellow, long, and slender, a key feature shared with the Lesser Yellowlegs but proportionally longer here.
• Compared to similar species: The bill is notably longer and heavier, often 1.5 times the head length, versus the shorter, thinner, straighter bill of the Lesser Yellowlegs.

Plumage Notes

Breeding adults show heavy dark streaking and barring on the underparts and richly spotted upperparts; non-breeding birds are considerably plainer, with pale gray-brown upperparts and white underparts showing only light streaking on the breast. Sexes look alike. Juveniles resemble non-breeding adults but with fresher, more crisply edged wing covert feathers through their first fall.

Habitat & Range

Greater Yellowlegs breed in boreal bogs and open wetlands across northern Canada and Alaska, migrating through nearly all of North America to wintering grounds along coasts and wetlands from the southern United States to South America. It favors a wide range of shallow wetland habitats, including marshes, flooded fields, and mudflats, both fresh and brackish.

Behavior & Field Notes

This species forages actively, often running through shallow water while sweeping its bill side to side or jabbing at small fish and aquatic invertebrates. It is notably wary and vocal, giving a loud, ringing three- or four-note "tew-tew-tew" call at the slightest disturbance, often alerting other wetland birds. Nesting occurs on the ground in open boreal habitat, with a simple scrape lined with vegetation.