Greater Yellowlegs
Tringa melanoleuca

f7.1 @ 1/2500s, ISO:800, Nikon D3S w 500mm and 1.7X tele-extender

\"Greater Yellowlegs,\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The greater yellowlegs is a large North American shorebird, similar in appearance to the smaller lesser yellowlegs. Its closest relative, however, is the greenshank, which together with the spotted redshank form a close-knit group. Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colors found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic (Pereira & Baker, 2005). They are also the largest shanks apart from the willet, which is altogether more robustly built. The greater yellowlegs and the greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage.

Black Beach, West Falmouth, Massachusetts

09/05/2014