# Lesser Yellowlegs

*Tringa flavipes*

They are famous for their 'teetering' habit, bobbing their tails and heads rhythmically as they walk through shallow water to flush out prey.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Scolopacidae › Tringa
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** wetland
- **Habitat:** Boreal forest clearings for nesting; mudflats, marshes, and lake shores during migration and winter.
- **Diet:** Small invertebrates including aquatic insects, crustaceans, snails, and occasionally small fish.
- **Range:** North America, Central America, South America, Caribbean
- **Size:** 23-27 cm length; 55-60 cm wingspan
- **Lifespan:** 4-10 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Wetland degradation, climate change affecting subarctic breeding grounds, and unregulated hunting during migration in certain regions.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless and shy. Maintain a distance of at least 30 meters to avoid disrupting feeding or nesting. Use binoculars for viewing to prevent stress to the bird; if it starts bobbing its head frantically, you are too close.

## About

The lesser yellowlegs ( Tringa flavipes ) is a medium-sized shorebird. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas , a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific flavipes is from Latin flavus , "yellow", and pes , "foot".

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/fe3831f3-67b3-4a69-88ac-7138d4867a82
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/3893
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tringa flavipes
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/177376689/medium.jpeg (Esteban Poveda, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.