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Lesser Yellowlegs

Tringa flavipes

IUCN status: Vulnerable 

King Street Mudflats. Redlands. Peter Harms. 4/4/2026

Plumage

A medium-sized shorebird showing some similarity to a Marsh Sandpiper but with bright yellow legs. Grey upperparts with white speckling. Streaky neck and white belly. White rump in flight.

 

Confusing Species

Wood Sandpiper – smaller and dumpier with more pronounced supercilium extending behind the eye. Has black cap and two-toned bill.

Greater Yellowlegs – larger bird overall with larger slighty curved bill.

Distribution

 

Distribution

No ordinary distribution in Australia.

Migratory habits

This bird migrates from Alaska, plus western and central Canada to the Caribbean islands, central America south throughout South America.

Breeding

Breeds from Alaska to south of the Arctic Circle across Canada to the south of Hudson Bay.

BARC submissions of Lesser Yellowlegs in Australia

Location State/Territory Sighting Date
Geelong VIC Jan 1983 to Mar 1983 Accepted
Werribee VIC 9/04/1995 Accepted
Ash Island NSW 14/09/2001 Accepted
Jerseyville NSW 28/10/2007 Accepted
Redlands QLD 4/4/2026 Accepted

References

  1. Geering, Andrew, Lindsay Agnew, and Sandra Harding, eds. Shorebirds of Australia. Csiro Publishing, 2007.
  2. eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available:  http://www.ebird.org (Accessed: Date 12/4/2026)
  3. Rogers A, Fuller RA & Amano T (2023) Australia’s migratory shorebirds: Trends and prospects. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. University of Queensland, Brisbane.
  4. Driessen, J., Kidd, L. R., Weller, D. R., Purnell, C., Maguire, G., Jaensch, R., and LeClair, S. M. (2025). Australian National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat. Report for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
  5. https://sproggies63.github.io/birding_apps/
  6. Tibbitts, T. L. and W. Moskoff (2020). Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lesyel.01