Bird Guide

Common Redshank vs Greater Yellowlegs

Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Common Redshank

Tringa totanus

Medium129 gWetland

Common redshanks in breeding plumage are a marbled brown color, slightly lighter below. In winter plumage they become somewhat lighter-toned and less patterned, being rather plain greyish-brown above and whitish below. They have red legs and a black-tipped red bill, and show white up the back and on the wings in flight. The spotted redshank (T. erythropus), which breeds in the Arctic, has a longer bill and legs; it is almost entirely black in breeding plumage and very pale in winter.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Common Redshank
Recorded by Grégoire Chauvot · Kvaløyvågen, Tromsø, Troms og Finnmark, Norway · CC0
Photo: Stephan Sprinz · CC BY 4.0
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

Greater Yellowlegs

Tringa melanoleuca

Medium162 gWetland

The greater yellowlegs is similar in appearance to the smaller lesser yellowlegs. Its closest relative, however, is the greenshank, which together with the spotted redshank form a close-knit group. Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colours found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic. They are also the largest shanks apart from the willet, which is altogether more robustly built.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Greater Yellowlegs
Recorded by Yolima Pardo · Toca, Boyaca, Colombia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Mike Baird (bairdphotos.com) · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Common Redshank and Greater Yellowlegs.