Greater yellowlegs

Last updated

Greater yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs2.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
Species:
T. melanoleuca
Binomial name
Tringa melanoleuca
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Tringa melanoleuca map.svg
  Breeding
  Migration
  Nonbreeding
Synonyms

Totanus melanoleucus

The greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.

Contents

Taxonomy

The greater yellowlegs was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae . He placed it in the genus Scolopax and coined the binomial name Scolopax melanoleuca. [2] Gmelin based his description on the "stone snipe" seen feeding in autumn in Chateau Bay, Labrador, that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist John Latham and by the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. [3] [4] The greater yellowlegs is now placed in the genus Tringa that was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . [5] [6] The name Tringa is the Neo-Latin word given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific epithet melanoleuca combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "yellow" with leucos meaning "white". [7] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [6]

Description

The greater yellowlegs is similar in appearance to the smaller lesser yellowlegs. Its closest relative, however, is the greenshank, which together with the spotted redshank form a close-knit group. Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colors found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic. [8] They are also the largest shanks apart from the willet, which is altogether more robustly built. The greater yellowlegs and the greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage.

Adults have long yellow legs and a long, thin, dark bill which has a slight upward curve and is longer than the head. The body is grey-brown on top and white underneath; the neck and breast are streaked with dark brown. The rump is white. It ranges in length from 29 to 40 cm (11 to 16 in) and in weight from 111 to 250 g (3.9 to 8.8 oz). Wingspan is 23.6 in (60 cm). [9]

The call is harsher, louder, and clearer than that of the lesser yellowlegs. They have a three-syllable whistle when flight-calling, with a lower pitched third syllable.

Distribution and habitat

Their breeding habitat is bogs and marshes in the boreal forest region of Canada and Alaska. They migrate to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, the Caribbean, and south to South America. They are very rare vagrants to western Europe. [10]

Behavior and ecology

Juvenile Yellowlegs - natures pics edit.jpg
Juvenile

Breeding

They nest on the ground, usually in well-hidden locations near water. The three to four eggs average 49 mm (1.9 in) in length and 33 mm (1.3 in) in breadth and weigh about 28 g (0.99 oz). The incubation period is 23 days. The young leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching and then leave the vicinity of the nest within two days. [10]

Food and feeding

Greater yellowlegs (right) are larger, with a proportionally longer bill than lesser yellowlegs (left). Semipalmated sandpipers] n the foreground. Lesser and greater yellowlegs (96183).jpg
Greater yellowlegs (right) are larger, with a proportionally longer bill than lesser yellowlegs (left). Semipalmated sandpipers] n the foreground.

These birds forage in shallow water, sometimes using their bills to stir up the water. They mainly eat insects and small fish, as well as crustaceans, marine worms, frogs, seeds and berries. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common redshank</span> Species of bird

The common redshank or simply redshank is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The green sandpiper is a small wader (shorebird) of the Old World.

<i>Tringa</i> Genus of birds

Tringa is a genus of waders, containing the shanks and tattlers. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1599. They are mainly freshwater birds, often with brightly coloured legs as reflected in the English names of six species, as well as the specific names of two of these and the green sandpiper. They are typically associated with northern hemisphere temperate regions for breeding. Some of this group—notably the green sandpiper—nest in trees, using the old nests of other birds, usually thrushes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willet</span> Species of bird

The willet is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper, and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa. Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage. It breeds in North America and the West Indies and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser yellowlegs</span> Species of medium-sized shorebird

The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The common sandpiper is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper, make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the common sandpiper and the green sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-billed dowitcher</span> Species of bird

The short-billed dowitcher, like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clapper rail</span> New world bird of salt marshes, recently split into different species

The clapper rail is a member of the rail family, Rallidae. The taxonomy for this species is confusing and still being determined. It is a large brown rail that is resident in wetlands along the Atlantic coasts of the eastern United States, eastern Mexico and some Caribbean islands. This species was formerly considered to be conspecific with the mangrove rail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow bittern</span> Species of bird

The yellow bittern is a small bittern. It is of Old World origins, breeding in the northern Indian Subcontinent, east to the Russian Far East, Japan and Indonesia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances. It has been recorded as a vagrant in Alaska and there is a single sighting in Great Britain, from Radipole Lake, Dorset on November 23, 1962 – however, the British Ornithologists' Union has always considered this occurrence to be of uncertain provenance and currently it is not accepted onto the official British List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-hooded oriole</span> Species of bird

The black-hooded oriole is a member of the oriole family of passerine birds and is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-knobbed coot</span> Species of bird

The red-knobbed coot or crested coot,, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-billed teal</span> Species of bird

The red-billed teal or red-billed duck is a dabbling duck which is an abundant resident breeder in southern and eastern Africa typically south of 10° S. This duck is not migratory, but will fly great distances to find suitable waters. It is highly gregarious outside the breeding season and forms large flocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristle-thighed curlew</span> Species of bird

The bristle-thighed curlew is a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in Alaska and winters on tropical Pacific islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tahiti sandpiper</span> Extinct species of sandpiper

The Tahiti sandpiper or Tahitian Sandpiper is an extinct member of the large wader family Scolopacidae that was endemic to Tahiti in French Polynesia until its extinction sometime before 1819.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wandering tattler</span> Species of bird

The wandering tattler, is a medium-sized wading bird. It is similar in appearance to the closely related gray-tailed tattler, T. brevipes. The tattlers are unique among the species of Tringa for having unpatterned, greyish wings and backs, and a scaly breast pattern extending more or less onto the belly in breeding plumage, in which both also have a rather prominent supercilium.

The Polynesian storm petrel is a species of seabird in the family Oceanitidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Nesofregetta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-eyed thrush</span> Species of bird

The white-eyed thrush is a species of bird in the family Turdidae that is endemic to Jamaica. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and heavily degraded former forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christmas sandpiper</span> Extinct species of bird

The Christmas sandpiper or Kiritimati sandpiper was a small shorebird. It became extinct some time in the first half of the 19th century. It was endemic to Christmas Island, since 1919 part of Kiribati. It is known solely from a single contemporaneous illustration, and a description by William Anderson, both made during the third circumnavigation voyage commanded by Captain James Cook, which visited the atoll of Christmas Island between 24 December 1777 and 2 January 1778.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Caledonian whistler</span> Species of bird

The New Caledonian whistler is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae. It is endemic to New Caledonia.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Tringa melanoleuca". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22693231A93392247. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693231A93392247.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 659.
  3. Latham, John (1785). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 3, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 152, No. 23.
  4. Pennant, Thomas (1785). Arctic Zoology. Vol. 2. London: Printed by Henry Hughs. p. 468, No. 376.
  5. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 148.
  6. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  7. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  390, 247. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. Pereira, S.L.; Baker, A.J. (2005). "Multiple gene evidence for parallel evolution and retention of ancestral morphological states in the shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae)". The Condor. 107 (3): 514–526. doi: 10.1093/condor/107.3.514 .
  9. "Greater Yellowlegs Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  10. 1 2 3 Elphick, C.S.; Tibbitts, T.L. (2020). Poole, A.F.; Gill, F.B. (eds.). "Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), version 1.0" . Birds of the World. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.greyel.01 . Retrieved 7 November 2022.