May 26th, 2004. Krif Road fields, Keene, NH. Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca This bird turned up during a tremendous fall out of Arctic bound shorebirds at Krif Road fields in late May 2004. The scale of the movement was perhaps unprecedented at an inland site in New Hampshire, involving more 2,000 individuals of 12 different species! Amongst the Greater Yellowlegs present that day was this bird with curiously bright orange legs. It's the closest that I've come to seeing either of the 'redshanks' in the US! Could this bird be a potential pitfall for a Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus in transitional plumage? Well, outside of the plumage differences, the legs aren't quite deep-red enough and there's no red at all in the bill, which is usually distinctly bicolored in Spotted Redshank. Even so, it is a bird of interest, and one that caught my attention. Sibley (2000) mentions, “Yellowlegs can rarely have bright orange legs; beware of confusing such birds with Spotted Redshank.”

With the head tucked in while preening, the unusually bright orange legs of this bird do give a ‘redshank’ like impression. I certainly gave this bird more than a cursory glance! The leg color was, however, the only unusual character concerning this individual.

May 26th, 2004. Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca, Krif Road fields, Keene, NH. A rare, orange-legged variant.

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