After tearing the house apart to find my running shoes my devious wife hid on the advice of my trail running group, I am finally back on the road. Long time readers already know that is not where I “want” to be (I belong on the trails) and certainly not walking…but that is where I am. I’ve been brief on details before and the fact I am still having constant flashbacks tells me I best keep those to myself for your mental comfort. In general, have lost the use of my dominant arm and based on the visual and immense disappointment (I was waaaayyyy tooo optimistic) when they took the post surgery splint off yesterday, it is going to be a long “trail” to a full recovery. I am not good at “slow” or “measured” and will have to keep an open ear to my external voices of reason – noting Brad’s is a much more calming and suggestive tone versus the more “Nurse Rached’s” of my wife’s hehehe. Until I can stop pecking at letters to the right of ‘G’, Brad will be guiding the Intrigued industrial complex (for which I am extremely grateful). With that, we bring you another of his Huntington Beach adventures.
Take it away Brad…
The veteran birders and bird photographers among you will not be surprised at what I say next. Can you guess? You are probably right. I am still going through photos from our Huntington Beach State Park birding adventure. I may not have mentioned it before, but Jan and I took well north of 11,000 photos in the three days of birding. I know that sounds like just getting warmed up for the more serious birders, or photographers, or bird photographers. Remember, this was a vacation. I would not have guessed that we would see 26 species at this one location (out of the 56 we spotted on the whole vacation). Granted, a few of the 56 spotted were some of the same birds we have at home in Illinois. Overall, we added a couple of dozen to our life list of birds.
As we arrived in the park at about 8 am at the beginning of another sunny February day in South Carolina, we headed to the first elevated boardwalk we could find. We were about a mile from the highway and couldn’t hear any traffic noise. And since we were still a few hundred yards from the ocean, we heard no surf sounds either. Actually, the area would be very quiet if it weren’t for all of our feathered friends welcoming us. One of the first things we saw flying was quite a distance from us. I had my zoom all the way at 500mm to catch this tiny shot. At least it’s more than six pixels on the sensor.
Hit the jump to reveal the details on this South Carolina find.
It was flying from our left to right, across the causeway, towards the tidal basin. At first, we didn’t know what it was, but since it was flying and it was a bird, we took photos. There’s a hint of identification in the photo, but I didn’t know it yet.
I found out later the Department of Obvious Names (DON) was obviously working overtime again. Yes, those folks that sometimes select the most obvious, or most obscure in a few cases, feature of the bird and name it that. No, I’m not talking about those guys that name the birds for themselves (you know who you are). I’m talking about this bird in particular. Though its whole name isn’t as obvious, but the second part of it certainly is.
The greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) is certainly all that. At least the part about the yellow legs. Despite our (general population of birders) familiarity with these birds and their widespread ranges, there is little actually known about the birds themselves. Attention all you budding ornithologists, here’s your thesis.
At this point most of the casual birders had left the habitats for the beaches, or one of the dozens of mini-golf courses in the area. We walked onto the elevated boardwalk by the nature center. Jan went to the end of the boardwalk to photograph a couple of brown pelicans and I stayed near the front to catch some small wading birds.
One of the best ways to identify if the bird you are seeing is in fact a greater yellowlegs is . . . are you ready for this . . . size. Yes, that’s right. The greater yellowlegs are, in fact, bigger than the lesser yellowlegs. Hold your applause, please.
Second, you can differentiate them by the number of notes, or syllables, in their song. A greater has three to four syllables and speaks more urgently. The lesser has one to two syllables and speaks more softly. There you go!
A third way to tell them apart is purely by the size of their bill. Obviously, the greater yellowlegs has a longer bill. But unless they are standing side by side how to you know? Think of the bill length as a multiple of their head size. The smaller yellowlegs have a bill that is 1-1.5x as long as their head. The greater have a bill that is 2-2.5x as long as their head. Subtle difference, I know. Breeding adults will be on the upper ends of the ranges (or longer), and non-breeding adults will be at the lower end of the range (or shorter). Not to confuse things, but it is possible for a breeding adult lesser yellowlegs to have a bill longer than a non-breeding adult greater yellowlegs. How’s that for definitive?
And a fourth unequivocal way (maybe not so much) to tell them apart is that in some populations (not all of them, and maybe even the smaller amount of them) is that the greater yellowlegs bill has a slight (and I do mean slight) upturn of the bill, but only for the breeding adults.
After reading all of that, I’m not sure if I could tell which version I was looking at. This group looked like some had characteristics from each list.
When all else fails, ask a serious birder. Voila! I had a bird expert standing next to me. It was Richard from the bird walk I wrote about in a prior post. Richard said it was a greater yellowlegs so that’s what I’m going with. What makes him an expert you may ask? He has over 4,000 identified birds in his life list, and has been birding this park for decades. Richard has also volunteered to ID and perform bird identification counts in this park for decades. For me, that trumps other identifications. (see note below)
Yellowlegs (both lesser and greater) have a nice mottled brown plumage and are usually snow-white underneath. How do these wading birds keep their bellies so clean? The greater yellowlegs are between the size of a robin and a crow. Coincidentally, so are the lesser yellowlegs, so remember your criteria from above. Make careful observations, evaluations and measurements. Then go ask an expert like I did.
Greater yellowlegs are known to completely immerse their head underwater if they think there’s a meal in it. They slowly move their head back and forth to try to dislodge something tasty to eat.
Seeing this bird find sustenance made me remember that it was well after lunch when Jan took this photo.
Yellowlegs generally eat aquatic invertebrates. They have been known to go after very small frogs or fish if they can catch them. I also have it on good authority that greater yellowlegs don’t turn down beetles, dragonfly nymphs or fly larvae. This one was lucky to find a worm.
Greater yellowlegs tend to stride with purpose across the tidal flats. They can put on a burst of speed if they are chasing a meal.
The backward bend in their leg isn’t a knee, it’s really an ankle. The lower part of the leg is a long middle toe, with two other toes branching off. In effect, the yellowlegs are really walking on tiptoes all of the time. Their “knee” is the bendy part covered with feathers, near their body.
Yellowlegs nest on the ground, usually at the base of short coniferous trees. They will also reuse a nest from a prior year if it still serves them. A pair of greater yellowlegs will tend 3-4 eggs per year. Eggs incubate for just over three weeks, and chicks will leave the nest in another three weeks.
Well, there it is. We’ve come to the end.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more bird photos from our South Carolina winter escape, please visit here.
Credits
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Notes
After the bird walk officially ended, Richard and I had been chatting for quite a while at the end of the boardwalk by the visitor center. He had been showing me characteristics of the greater yellowlegs when a woman approached and was trying to tell us the birds were, in fact, lesser yellowlegs. Richard very calmly asked why she thought they were the lesser and not the greater. She went on about something or other for several minutes. Frankly, I tuned out while she was pontificating. Though she sounded authoritative, she was not quite correct. Eventually, she convinced herself she was right and walked away, took three photos and returned to her still running SUV. Once she was out of earshot, I asked if she was correct and Richard calmly reiterated the criteria for telling the two apart. I think since he has been the guide for the bird walk nearly every Wednesday for the past several years, he probably knows best which birds are at the park. Greater yellowlegs it is.
Addendum
Bri here, just wanted to weigh in with my agreement to Richard and Brad’s ID on this Greater Yellowlegs. A very knowledgeable lady at South Padre revealed the bill field key while Ron and I were debating the distinction between two Yellowlegs standing on a log in the middle of a pond. Turns out we were both right as one was a Greater and the other was a Lesser as the kind volunteer pointed out. She confirmed Brad’s slightly upturned bill for Greaters. What I have found is that feature is more prevalent than references indicate and if it is noticed, then it rules out the Lesser. Brad’s (or maybe Jan’s) 2nd and 4th shot above show that perfectly.
Life Intrigued 