GREATER YELLOWLEGS Tringa melanoleuca
North American birders will already be familiar with this species and his smaller, very similar cousin the Lesser Yellowlegs. When they are both together they are easy to tell apart, the size differences and longer bill of this species being quite obvious, but find one on its own without a point of reference and they can have you scratching your head! One useful character is to compare the length of the bill with the length of the head. If the bill is longer than the head then it is this species, if it is about the same length you are dealing with a Lesser (FPAVE442PH)!
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPAVE437PH) Adult , Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Paul Smith October 2006).
FIGURE 2 - (FPAVE438PH) Adult, Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Frank Fragano undated).
FIGURE 3 - (FPAVE439PH) Adult, Madrejón, Departamento Alto Paraguay (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 4 - (FPAVE440PH) Same individual as (FPAVE439PH) (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 5 - (FPAVE441PH) Same individual as (FPAVE439PH) rear view (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 6 - (FPAVE442PH) Adult (behind) with Lesser Yellowlegs for comparison, Bahía de Asunción, Departamento Central (Frank Fragano undated).
VIDEO - (FPAVE443VI) Same individual as (FPAVE439PH - FPAVE441PH) (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5

FIGURE 5
FIGURE 6

FIGURE 6
Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Material on this page was provided by Paul Smith and Frank Fragano and is used with their permission.