{"id":2479,"date":"2011-06-17T04:11:34","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T10:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2025-02-14T03:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T09:34:04","slug":"friday-photos-greater-yellowlegs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/17\/friday-photos-greater-yellowlegs\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Photos: Greater Yellowlegs"},"content":{"rendered":"

When looking at a Greater Yellowlegs there is NO<\/em> mistaking how they got the name “Yellowlegs”. It is one of the many shorebirds I would see in Florida and also get to see and photograph here in Utah.<\/p>\n

\"GreaterGreater Yellowlegs on one leg\u00a0 – Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1\/640, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

The Greater Yellowlegs is about 2 to 3 inches larger than the Lesser Yellowlegs, its bill is slight upturned and longer than the Lesser Yellowlegs bill.<\/p>\n

The length of the bill of the Greater Yellowlegs is about 1 1\/2 times the width of the head whereas the length of the Lesser Yellowlegs bill is the width of its head.<\/p>\n

Greater Yellowlegs are one of the first shorebirds to head north to their breeding grounds in the spring and among the first to head south after their breeding season is done. They breed in bogs, wet meadows and near shallow water habitats.<\/p>\n

Their diet consists of small crustaceans both aquatic and terrestrial, small fish, seeds, berries and frogs.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Greater Yellowlegs photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When looking at a Greater Yellowlegs there is NO mistaking how they got the name “Yellowlegs”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,596,2000],"tags":[4004,5229,5132,307,4105,4077,3997,4036,4156,6209,4891,274,4188,739,3996,5127],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-greater-yellowlegs","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-evening","tag-greater-yellowlegs","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-lagoon","tag-low-angle","tag-resting","tag-rising-sun","tag-shore","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-shoreline","tag-tringa-melanolueca","tag-water","tag-yellowlegs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greater-yellowlegs-florida-shorebird-mia-mcpherson-6366.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-DZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/25\/greater-yellowlegs-in-florida-and-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":2479,"position":0},"title":"Greater Yellowlegs in Florida and Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I expect to see Greater Yellowlegs soon because they are one of the first shorebirds to migrate through Utah on their way to their breeding grounds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pair of Greater Yellowlegs running across the sand at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greater-yellowlegs-pair-mia-mcpherson-2386.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greater-yellowlegs-pair-mia-mcpherson-2386.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greater-yellowlegs-pair-mia-mcpherson-2386.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greater-yellowlegs-pair-mia-mcpherson-2386.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4283,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/04\/greater-yellowlegs\/","url_meta":{"origin":2479,"position":1},"title":"Greater Yellowlegs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Obtaining a low angle with small shorebirds can bring the viewer into the birds world by being down to their level. When I photographed shorebirds in Florida I was either constantly covered in sand or mud, wet or all three.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting Greater Yellowlegs at Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-mia-mcpherson-2729.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-mia-mcpherson-2729.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-mia-mcpherson-2729.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-mia-mcpherson-2729.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93396,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/17\/sharing-sunrise-with-a-greater-yellowlegs\/","url_meta":{"origin":2479,"position":2},"title":"Sharing Sunrise With A Greater Yellowlegs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When I lived in Florida it wasn't unusual for me to share sunrise alone with birds at the north beach of Fort De Soto. Thirteen years ago I did just that with a Greater Yellowlegs.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Greater Yellowlegs waking up in a still lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-dawn-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-wrack-line-mia-mcpherson-7978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-wrack-line-mia-mcpherson-7978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-wrack-line-mia-mcpherson-7978.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-wrack-line-mia-mcpherson-7978.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106293,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/17\/lesser-and-greater-yellowlegs-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":2479,"position":4},"title":"Lesser And Greater Yellowlegs Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On Monday, I photographed both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs foraging in a shallow duckweed-covered pond at Farmington Bay WMA early in the morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lesser Yellowlegs standing still, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lesser-yellowlegs-pond-mia-mcpherson-2666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lesser-yellowlegs-pond-mia-mcpherson-2666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lesser-yellowlegs-pond-mia-mcpherson-2666.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lesser-yellowlegs-pond-mia-mcpherson-2666.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39075,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/30\/trio-of-greater-yellowlegs\/","url_meta":{"origin":2479,"position":5},"title":"Trio of Greater Yellowlegs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this trio of Great Yellowlegs in Florida I didn't have to worry about how far away they were, in fact at times they moved too close to me","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trio of Greater Yellowlegs next to a lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, 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