Lesser Yellowlegs

Today's offering is a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Their breeding grounds are central Alaska through to Canada and they migrate in autumn to the West Indies and South America. So I'm afraid this one is a wee bit lost.

Generally in Britain there are around 5 records a year, so when I heard there was one in Oxford it seemed worth the effort of going over to see it. Now those that follow this journal will know the last time we went chasing a rare bird, Mrs L and I were in agreement that it wasn't a great experience. The journey was a hassle, it was windy and chilly and there wasn't much else to be seen, however today proved to be the complete reverse, an easy journey, a windless sunny day and loads of other interesting birds around. Unfortunately though Mrs L learns from her mistakes and decided to leave this one to just me - another mistake for her to learn from!

Obviously you have all identified which of the above two birds is the Lesser Yellowlegs, it's the one with the yellow legs, the other is a female Ruff and they were also mixing with a male Ruff. I'd been recently complemented by Marika for my ability to identify birds, but I have to confess that initially I was convinced the male Ruff was the Yellowlegs - it does have yellowish legs, but is larger and like the female has far "scalier" feathers, but when you're on the far side of the flood meadow and the sun's in the wrong place it's not that obvious. Fortunately a wander round to the other side made it all a lot clearer.

Hopefully Yellowlegs will keep friends with the Ruff and they'll see him through our winter, it'll probably be a wee bit different from being in the West Indies or South America.

Have a look at those legs in Large.