Posted by Steven Mlodinow (205.188.198.37) on December 16, 2000 at 10:55:02:
Greetings All
My initial impression, like that of many others, was Greater Yellowlegs. My final thoughts are the same. I find lone juv yellowlegs to be very challenging, and identifying a bird from a single photo has to be even more so.
The bill on this bird is a bit longer than the head. For an adult yellowlegs, this would be somewhat indicative of Lesser Yellowlegs, but for a juv, I think it fits Greater. To shore up this thinking, I pulled out Paulson 1993 and Rosair and Cottridge 1995 and looked at the photos therein. The juv Lesser have bills that are the same length as the head, the juv Greaters have bills that are a bit longer -- closely matching the ratio seen on the quiz bird. Furthermore, I think that the thickness of the bill's base is more like that of Greater. Juv Lesser Yellowlegs have more needle like bills with the base being not that much thicker than the tip.
I have never seen any difference in primary projection between L and G Yellowlegs and can not appreciate any difference in the photos I looked at. Furthermore, the juv Greater (standing next to a juv Lesser) in Paulson shows the same tertial pattern as the quiz bird (though I think that Don Roberson is right about this difference typically). I must admit that the chest streaking is not a dark and defined as I am used to seeing in juv Greaters, but I think that MIGHT be due to lighting, position, etc.
So, I would say Greater Yellowlegs, but I would not bet the house on it.
Cheers
Steve Mlodinow.