Greater Yellowlegs

This is a greater yellowlegs that I saw over at Jackson's Beach the other day. There were several of them around, dancing in quick little circles while they poked in the mud for a morsel to eat. In the photo below, you can clearly see that the beak is slightly upturned and longer than the head is wide, differentiating it from the very similar looking lesser yellowlegs. An interesting fact that I learned over at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Guide is that while the greater yellowlegs is a common species, the fact that it only occurs in small densities and often breeds in inhospitable bogs makes it one of the least-studied North American shorebirds.