{"id":54886,"date":"2018-11-05T04:54:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T11:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54886"},"modified":"2025-09-11T06:32:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:32:21","slug":"greater-yellowlegs-in-utah-during-late-fall-and-winter-its-not-unusual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/05\/greater-yellowlegs-in-utah-during-late-fall-and-winter-its-not-unusual\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Yellowlegs In Utah During Late Fall and Winter? It’s Not Unusual"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreaterGreater Yellowlegs in the mud at Farmington Bay – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been seeing lots of Greater Yellowlegs recently at Farmington Bay WMA here in northern Utah and that might seem unusual because signs of winter have already shown but it really isn’t that unusual at all for this species of shorebirds. Personally I have seen them as late as the end of December and as early as late February foraging in open water even with a thick layer of snow on the ground. The past few winters have been milder than normal and it wouldn’t surprise me if in the future we saw them regularly all winter long, especially with the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n

This Greater Yellowlegs was photographed on October 30th at Farmington Bay. That white thing in the mud on the right side is a shotgun wad, shooting is not allowed in the area where this yellowlegs was photographed so it probably floated to that location.<\/p>\n

\"NovemberNovember trio of Greater Yellowlegs – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And this trio of yellowlegs were photographed on November 2nd, they were part of a flock of about two dozen that were foraging in some shallow water of the marsh.<\/p>\n

We have other shorebirds that hang around here in Utah during the winter including Killdeer and Wilson’s Snipe. This far north you might not think we’d have shorebirds that you could see in a blizzard but we really can.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I’ve been seeing lots of Greater Yellowlegs recently at Farmington Bay WMA here in northern Utah and that might seem unusual because signs of winter have already shown but it really isn’t that unusual at all for this species of shorebirds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1022,697,596,118,26],"tags":[4004,970,4620,4247,4105,4094,530,2213,3975,274,6873,5690,6872,4095,5127],"class_list":["post-54886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-greater-yellowlegs","category-shorebirds","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-fall","tag-flock","tag-greater-yellowlegs","tag-marsh","tag-migration","tag-mud","tag-shorebird","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-shotgun-wad","tag-tringa-melanoleuca","tag-trio","tag-wetlands","tag-yellowlegs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-trio-mia-mcpherson-4847.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ehg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107380,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/19\/greater-yellowlegs-trio-in-early-morning-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":54886,"position":0},"title":"Greater Yellowlegs Trio In Early Morning Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at Farmington Bay WMA two days ago I saw a small flock of Greater Yellowlegs foraging, preening and resting in the wetlands in early morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Greater Yellowlegs trio in morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/greater-yellowlegs-trio-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0959.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/greater-yellowlegs-trio-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0959.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/greater-yellowlegs-trio-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0959.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/greater-yellowlegs-trio-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-0959.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74883,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/25\/some-shorebirds-migrate-late-and-they-are-okay\/","url_meta":{"origin":54886,"position":1},"title":"Some Shorebirds Migrate Late And They Are Okay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Being concerned about shorebirds in harsh winter weather isn't unusual but despite their delicate appearance these shorebirds are tough.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Wilson's Snipe in snow, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/wilsons-snipe-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-8011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/wilsons-snipe-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-8011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/wilsons-snipe-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-8011.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/wilsons-snipe-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-8011.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95271,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/21\/migrating-greater-yellowlegs\/","url_meta":{"origin":54886,"position":2},"title":"Migrating Greater Yellowlegs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Greater Yellowlegs migrate starting in the summer until late in the fall and return early in the spring. I will be seeing them until about December here in Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Greater Yellowlegs with a droplet of water on its bill, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-migrating-mia-mcpherson-4846.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-migrating-mia-mcpherson-4846.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/greater-yellowlegs-migrating-mia-mcpherson-4846.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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