THis past Saturday proved to rather amusing as I watched the incoming
shorebirds following a rather hightide in Tofino (West Coast Vancouver
Island) I was watching three Greater Yellowlegs as they fed in the shallow
water. They appear to prefer feeding in water rather than in mud as the
peeps and dowitchers do. Anyway, one of the yellowlegs would run around the
avian 'ankle-deep' water and occasionally lunge at fish swimming in the
intertidal area. One of the others used a technique that I have never
noticed before, it would run around but with its entire beak and sometimes
part of its head, submerged, and open. It was skimming the shallows and
would close its beak on occasion trying to capture fish. It was successful
on many occasions, catching what looked like sculpin. The third yellowlegs
appeared rather 'dense'. It would run around among the other two as they
performed each their own style of feeding, but this one did not attempt to
feed at all. It was as if, it did not realize what was going on, but got
caught up in the excitement anyway. Now this seems odd, even if it was a
young bird, one would think that by now it must have a feeding technique!

It was quite a comedy to watch, I even imagined what might happen to the
skimming yellowlegs if it accidently ran aground or got its bill lodged.
But I guess some would not find that funny.

I wonder if this particular yellowlegs is feeding in a traditional fashion
that I simply have never noticed or, whether it may be a trans-continental
voyager that spent some time down in Florida trying to mimic the feeding
behaviour of Roseate Spoonbills and Black Skimmers?

Cheers,

Don Cecile
Port Alberni, BC, CANADA V9Y 6Z5
eMAIL: dcecile at cln.etc.bc.ca