Yellowlegs Revisited

Lesser Yellowlegs

A few days ago, I was excited to see and identify Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs at Hays Kennedy Park. Yet the more I looked at my photos, the less confident I was in my evaluation. This is an ongoing process, remember.

Lesser Yellowlegs

MSD (the sewer people) have a flood control basin in the industrial south end of the county. It is locked up, but a few of our birders have permission, and a key, to go in there, and yesterday he sent out an email that he would be there from 4 - 6, having seen pretty good shorebirds. At the last minute, our schedule cleared up, and we rushed down around 5:30, having called another friend for directions. 

Cliff Swallow

The first thing we noticed were hundreds of swallows flying and dipping down to the water so fast you couldn't really tell what they were. Our leader Brainard, said that all 5 kinds of swallows in Kentucky were there - Barn, Cliff, Tree, Rough-wing and Bank Swallows. I'm familiar with the Barn and Tree Swallows, but now know that the Cliff Swallow, while superficially resembling the Barn Swallow, has a light colored rump, rusty feathers that go around on his neck and a white spot on his forehead. So now I can even identify him in flight! They usually nest under a bridge at Beckley Creek.

Solitary Sandpiper

It was cloudy and windy at Melco, not the best conditions for photography. And many birds were way, way off in the distance. But I was able to focus in on this Solitary Sandpiper, to start with. He is a darker brown with white spots on his back and a nice white eye-ring. However, he's only passing through Kentucky on his way to breed in the northlands of Canada and probably won't be here long.

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

 So while we were standing there being zoomed at by swallows, I asked Brainard about distinguishing the Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. First, he said, we don't get as many of the Greater Yellowlegs. Good point. I saw probably 5 or 6 birds at Hays Kennedy that looked alike in photos. They have smaller, straight beaks. It's hard to tell if the bird you are looking at is really bigger, all by himself. As we walked back to the cars, he pointed out another bird, saying it was the Greater Yellowlegs. The beak is longer, and look for a slight upturn. Look at the first bird above and you can see the upturn. The second photo just shows him with a wiggling tadpole for dinner. Good. I feel better about identifying them now. All I need is a little more practice.