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Greater Yellowlegs ? (1 Viewer)

Gallus

Gallus

Well-known member
This Photo was taken at Bon accord marsh on the island of Tobago it looks like a Greater Yellowlegs exept it has green legs can anyone help in identification the bird was between 14" and 16" inches tall.
 

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Leg colour looks rather patchy, as though it could be yellow underneath a layer of mud. In which case greater 'legs.

Rob

Does look very greenshanky though.
 
Legs way too long for Greenshank, surely? Leg colour does look a bit patchy in this pic, as edenwatcher says. Other than that, hard to convince myself it's not one. Think the head and neck might be too uniformly streaked for Greenshank, but I wouldn't stake my nest-egg on it. Need to check books when I get home, but I thought both 'legs had whitish spotting on the mantle? - this bird looks unspotted there.
 
I think the bill is to long for a Greenshank. I would have to go with G. Yellowlegs!

Mike
 
Now looking more closely!

It does look leggy - but my memories of Greater legs are are equal leg length to Greenshank. The bill does look a little lightweight for a greenshank

To have such a plain mantle a Greater Legs would have to be a winter adult...

but in the end.. and here I am admitting I was wrong (probably) - the pattern of notching on the tertials is incompatable with Greenshank.
 
Greenshank Tringa nebularia. I think.

We get them often and I would call this one a Greenshank. It's the overall tone of the bird. Yellowlegs tend to be more grey-white.

Can the green legs be just mud??
 
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I don't know...Look at the bill. The Greenshank's bill is thicker and shorter.

Mike

Yellowlegs/Greenshank
 

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and look at the pattern of the tertials... narrow white edge in Greenshank (or grey with darker bars) Notched pale on dark in Greater legs
 
Hi all,
As far as I can make out, this bird is a Greater Yellowlegs. Greenshank would have plain tertials (as Jane said) and also lack the 'spot-barring' found on the coverts of the mystery bird. In addition, Greater 'legs strikes me as having the same large head/'pinched in' neck effect as Lesser 'legs, which I don't associate with Greenshank: the mystery bird resembles Greater 'legs in this respect also. The leg colour is not possible to evaluate accurately due to being coated in mud.
Harry
 
|8)| The bird looks to me to be a Greater Yellowlegs.
The bird looks to light weight to be a Greenshank and the bill looks to delicate.
The mantle is spotted and I don't remember seeing this on Greenshank.
The legs could be muddy, (as previously noted).

Good Birding,

Derek
 
Hi thanks for your replys I had taken photos of this this bird later in the day it had the dark leg colour right to the top of the leg in the habitat it was in it would be unlikely to be mud on the full lenght of the legs
 
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Gallus said:
Hi thanks for your replys I had taken photos of this this bird later in the day it had the dak leg colour right to the top of the leg in the habitat it was in it would be unlikely to be mud on the full lenght of the legs
Click to expand...

Well...now you did it!

Mike
 
I have looked at the Richard ffrench book The Birds of Trinidad and Tobago and there have been previous recordings of Greenshank in this Area of Tobago and I am convinced the Legs are the true colour in the Photo
 
G Yellowlegs for me. Does a Greenshank have a two toned bill? (not a rhetorical question) - as this mark is pretty good for winter G Yellowlegs. Plus in the pic the dark area on the legs looks distinctly muddy to my eye - and the coloration can be variable.

Luke
 
after looking more closely (and with a book or two on my lap) i'm also thinking it looks more like a yellowlegs. particularly the plain mantle feathers with the brown notches point that way.

is this the only available picture? and when was it made?

did the photographer see it fly. then perhaps he can remember a prominent white rump and back of Greenshank :eek!:
 
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