I had an interesting encounter with Lesser Yellowlegs this morning while
continuing my census work. While mapping out one of our 'land bird
plots', it was quite obvious that we were in the breeding territory of a
pair. The two birds were very agitated with the presence of the
research crew. Later, while actually doing the count, I nearly stepped
on the female as she flushed from the nest. She had built it underneath
a very low and open willow bush on the ground. Taking quick note of the
nest, I could see it was sparsely lined with dry grass and contained 4
tan/brown eggs, heavily spotted with dark brown.

What I found interesting, was that just after flushing the female, no
less than SEVEN additional yellowlegs literally swarmed into the area to
loudly protest my presence. I left quickly so as to minimize the impact
of my presence. I had never experienced such behavior before and
wondered if this is typical of the species. I wonder if all the noise
these birds create is an attempt to confuse predators - they certainly
are noisy!!!

One further note, in addition to the wolf, black bear and lynx, this
morning I observed 2 adult coyotes.

Andy Sorensen
Anchorage, Alaska
ajstudio at ptialaska.net