A pair of Yellow Legs, I'm not sure if they are Greater or Lesser Yellow Legs but I am leaning towards Lesser, perhaps someone out there can post a comment as to what you think they are.
A pair of Yellow Legs, I'm not sure if they are Greater or Lesser Yellow Legs but I am leaning towards Lesser, perhaps someone out there can post a comment as to what you think they are.
Excellent, Frank
Thanks, Mariano!
Hey Frank, I not saying it is or ain’t, but my best guess from your image would be Greater Yellowlegs. Here a link to a helpful resource for further scrutiny if you like :
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Yellowlegs/species-compare
Hi Paul,
That's the site I was looking at to ID these birds. They look so similar, plus depending on their age they might look identical -Juvenile Greater vs Adult Lesser. Then there is the chance they could be a Sandpiper...thanks for the link and the comment!
I know ani't bird ID fun ;) But so much more than visual comes into play sometimes. Another resource I think Audubon has a section on area sightings, or talking with an expert ornithologist or park ranger ... or docent as CA park system calls them.
I'm basing my suggestion on Adult markings of the one to the left and bill appearance of both ! ?
Indeed - fun ;)!
There's only a couple of inches difference in size, and I'm thinking these were in the smaller range, but it's not like I had a tape measure and my memory doesn't work like it used too, I'm thinking a couple of screws are loose and a maybe a couple of marbles have fell out!
Maybe a better term ? Challenging!
Like I mention check for local BW sightings either Audubon or other sources use the date of your image give or take a week on both sides before & after.
Other thing I noticed in your image was the differences in leg colors, bird on the right (juvenile?) definite yellow and the other bird more orange’ish which I think I read can occur in the Greater during the spring. ?
Yeah - Challenging - like a good puzzle can be fun....
Also as I sent my last comment I thought to myself,
"What if it was one of each, Greater and Lesser".
I did check the "map" page at the linked site, the location I was at seemed to be a bit hotter of a location for both types compared to other areas, but they are seen pretty much everywhere in the Americas!
Not to beat a dead horse iNauralist has an observer log :
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=194593&subview=table&t...
Later
WOW !!
That's pretty cool!
Although, when I checked for "Lesser Yellow Legs on that site and California" (didn't seem any Lessers seen in the Lompoc area) and viewed the pictures and the conflicting opinions as to whether they were Greater or Lesser I still think calling them just "Yellow Legs" was the right call for me.
I'm going to go back and check my photo archives for that day and see if there might be a more telling picture.
My turn to beat a dead horse, but I found this informative video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZmmku8DNz4
Plus looking at other photos from that day, I'm thinking they are Greater Yellow Legs!