Lesser Yellowlegs - Blast From the Past Finds
Lesser Yellowlegs is one of my favorite American species that turns up in Ireland. There's something about them, that clean, sleek and elegant appearance when compared to their Redshank cousins that's just brilliant whilst simultaneously being key to their search image and ID.
As part of a series of posts on past finds, thought I'd jot down all the stories on birds I enjoyed finding, beginning with 'legs.
Rogerstown, Co. Dublin, 2003
My first self found Lesser Yellowlegs turned up on the inner estuary at Rogerstown, found from the south hide.
I was living in Cork at the time, on student placement at Lough Beg, and I was on a weekend visit home to Dublin. I took some time to get in some birding with the family on August 21st.
It had been a dismal day as myself, my brother and father worked all the way from Louth in a southerly direction.
We were seeing absolutely nothing of interest and Conor was grumbling about going home early. However I pushed us onwards, saying we should at least see out the route and do Rog and Swords.
Not long after setting up in the hide at Rogerstown (there was only one back then) I picked up a clean, more silvery looking shank off in the distance to the east...with bright Yellow Legs.
"I've got a Lesser Yellowlegs here" I said to the lads. And that was the day saved!
The bird was, I believe, reasonably well twitched (present several days) and even photographed (I had no camera equipment of any kind back in those days) but as if often the case, photo archives etc from back then are not readily available and I can't track any down.
We three enjoyed good views for about half an hour before we had to push on. A very enjoyable self found tick.
Lough Beg, Cork, 2006
The year I moved to Cork permanently was absolutely a fantastic year, with my finds list and my Irish list skyrocketing purely by being in Ireland's best county.
On the 20th of September, an evening visit to the hide at Lough Beg on the way home to Carrigaline turned rare when that familiar sleek clean tringa shape walked out from behind some rushes. My second self found Lesser Yellowlegs!
Lesser Yellowlegs - Loughbeg, Co. Cork
This bird hung around a long time, with it being refound by myself at the Carrigaline estuary on the 27th, and back again at Lough Beg on October first (where I got to see it again whilst twitching a lovely juv Long-Billed Dowitcher).
Lesser Yellowlegs - Carrigaline
Long-Billed Dowitcher - Lough Beg, Cork
Clogheen Marsh, Cork, October 2006
My 3rd self found Lesser Yellowlegs fell very quickly after the one above.
Taking Sean Ronayne down to Lough Beg to see the above Long-Billed Dowitcher and Lesser Yellowlegs, we carried on west to see a variety of good birds which were about, such as Hoopoe and various waders.
Coming back through Clonakilty, I pulled up beside the pool at the west end of Clogheen Marsh and raised my bins. A sleek clean looking tringa was present with Redshanks along the bank.
I jumped out to set up my scope, but already knew what it would turn out to be. My second self found Lesser Yellowlegs of the Autumn, 2nd that day! And 3rd over all in Ireland, in an autumn where I saw some 6 different individuals around the country.
What was presumably the same individual was then seen later in the month at Rosscarberry.
Dundalk, Co. Louth - 2007
A day working north from Dublin into Louth was, echoing August 2003, dismally quiet, at least until we pulled in to the spirit store at Dundalk, where I found 2 yanks together in the form of a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Pectoral Sandpiper.
Lesser Yellowlegs - Dundalk
Pectoral Sandpiper - Dundalk
Again, we enjoyed these birds for a good half hour before the tide pushed them onwards. My 4th self found Lesser Yellowlegs in Ireland.
Bannow Bay, Wexford - 2016
My 5th self found individual was produced on a visit home to Ireland in 2016.
Taking a day in Wexford with my brother and father, we started out twitching various goodies around Tacumshin and Carnesore, including this tasty Baird's Sandpiper at Carne and a slew of yanks at Tac.
Baird's Sandpiper - Carnesore
Buff-Breasted Sandpiper - Tac
Pectoral Sandpiper - Tac
White-Rumped Sandpiper - Tac
Semi-Palmated Sandpipers - Tac
Carrying on west, we came to Bannow Bay on the high tide. I could see a flock of roosting shanks north of the layby we parked at, on the opposite side of the channel.
The lads wanted to push on, but I felt the need to check them out, so wandered some 50 meters up the foreshore to try and obtain better views.
Sure enough, very distant, but distinct, was a gorgeous juv Lesser Yellowlegs.
Lesser Yellowlegs - my only image of the bird - record shot would be generous, but hey...it gets the job done.
I called the lads, and they jogged up the shore to join me. As they arrived, the entire flock lifted and flew towards us, giving a close fly by, and the legs showing quite nicely for the 3 of us as they did.
The birds landed in again where they had been, and we again had to settle for distant views.
With the tide rising further, and the bird unlikely to show any better, we pushed on, happy with our haul of yanks.
Oued Sous, Morocco - 2023
My 6th self found Lesser Yellowlegs in the Western Palearctic is my only individual outside of Ireland.
Taking a few days at the end of a successful trip to explore and find our own birds paid off big time with Moroccan megas such as Citrine Wagtail, Bonaparte's Gull and Lesser Yellowlegs.
The Lesser Yellowlegs was a particularly enjoyable find, with windy, difficult conditions present at the time.
Again, that clean, sleek look caused me to double take as I watched this wader emerge from the edge of the estuary vegetation, even as my scope rattled in the strong breeze.
Lesser Yellowlegs - Oued Sous
The wind shake was negated by moving a bit closer, and we enjoyed decent views of the bird, and found a Citrine Wagtail on the walk.
This bird was present for several days, and gave even better views over time.
Lesser Yellowlegs - a classic rarity.
It will always be a favorite species of mine and one I would live to find in Finland, where it's a mega.
I've always somewhat wondered how easy that would be, with the worst confusion species here being not Redshank...but the far more similar Wood Sandpiper. Maybe some day.
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