Kelly,

You can usually separate the two yellowlegs species by the bill alone:

(1) The greater tends to have a very subtle upturn to its bill;
the lesser's is straight, and has a sturdier appearance.

(2) If the bill appears to be close to twice the length of the head,
you're probably looking at a greater; if it's <= one and a half times
the length of the head, it's probably a lesser.

The combination of (1) and (2), which will usually agree, allow
you to make the ID confidently.

Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Kelly Mcallister
Sent: Friday, December 25, 1998 2:09 PM
To: Tom Schooley
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Which Yellowlegs




On Thu, 24 Dec 1998, Tom Schooley wrote:

> Kelly, you mention Lesser Yellowlegs at Mud Bay. These are also very rare
> in Washington in winter, usually staying far south of here.

You caught me. I don't know my yellowlegs. There were probably a dozen
yellowlegs in the vicinity of the Willet. Most of them looked substantially
smaller than the Willet. However, at one point, I was viewing a yellowlegs
and the Willet in the scope at the same time and the yellowlegs was just
about the same size as the Willet but lighter bodied. I jumped to the
conclusion that I had seen both species without really thinking about
it. I should learn the calls of the two species. I find the descriptions
of calls in field guides worthless. The yellowleg's calls are generally
described as a two note versus three note call and I stand out there in
the mud and listen to series of 4 or 6 notes coming from the yellowlegs
nearby
and wonder what good the book could be to anyone (not to mention that you
have to decide whether you are hearing a "whew whew whew" or a "yu yu").

Anyway, my "Bird Songs of the Pacific States" cd doesn't have either
yellowlegs so I need to get a more comprehensive cd (I am struggling
with rails now as well. My cd has a few calls for the Sora but
only one for the Virginia Rail. The odd, descending cough that I
often hear and associate with a rail is still unknown to me though
I think it is a Virginia Rail despite it being closer to the Sora
on my cd. I hear it where I see Virginia rails frequently).

Kelly McAllister