An Incontinence of Yellowlegs at Lambton Woods: September 30, 2020

Shorebirds are somewhat rare in the Toronto area so it was a pleasure to see an incontinence of Lesser Yellowlegs this morning. An “incontinence” is the term for more that 1 Lesser Yellowlegs.

Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs

These beautiful birds breed from western Alaska and Canada east to western Quebec and spend winters on coasts from southern California and Virginia southward, and along the Gulf Coast. They are also found in Hawaii.

Lesser Yellowlegs

While the Lesser Yellowlegs is similar in appearance to the Greater Yellowlegs, they are not closely related.

Greater Yellowlegs

Diet is primarily invertebrates gleaned from water or land, especially snails and flies, beetles, dragonflies of all life stages.

Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs

Other birds:

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Great Egret
Great Egret
Double-crested Cormorant (juvenile) with Canada Geese
Double-crested Cormorant (juvenile)
Canada Goose
Mallard (male)
Mallard (female)
Mallards
dueling mallards (female)
dueling mallards (female)

Species list: double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, great egret, Canada goose, mallard, common merganser, lesser yellowlegs, ring-billed gull, red-bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, red-breasted nuthatch, ruby-crowned kinglet, house sparrow, northern cardinal. (18 species)

Park views:

Salmon
hackberry gall psyllids (insects)

Today’s group:

Some botany:

Carrion Flower (Smilax)
Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)
New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus inserta)
Freeman Maple (Acer x freemanii)
Spindletree (Euonymus europaea)
Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa crusgalli)
Phragmites (Phragmites australis)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Panicled Aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum)
Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Calico Aster (Symphyotrichum laterifloru
Beggar-ticks (Bidens frondosa)

NATURE POETRY

Where long the shadows of the wind had rolled,
Green wheat was yielding to the change assigned;
And as by some vast magic undivined
The world was turning slowly into gold.​         – Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869​–1935) 

Miles Hearn

3 thoughts on “An Incontinence of Yellowlegs at Lambton Woods: September 30, 2020

  1. George

    The Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellow are in the same Order, Family and Genus (Tringa) which says to me that they are closely related. True?

    Reply
  2. Gloria James

    There’s certainly a lot more colour at Lambton Woods than three weeks ago. How do you distinguish the sugar maple from the Freeman maple. There is a maple tree on our street and the leaves are now a mahogany colour.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *