On a lesser yellowlegs, if you did that the bill would just reach the back of the head."

So why do they call you a Lesser Yellowlegs?

To the left of the dowitchers is a lesser yellowlegs and behind it is a bunch of semi-palmated sandpipers.

Try to distinguish a long-billed from a short-billed dowitcher, or a greater from a lesser yellowlegs, and you have to start seeking out details.

Marsh birds include lesser yellowlegs, spotted sandpipers, Wilson's snipes, and upland sandpipers.

Here spotting scopes are often set up, inspiring intense discussions on the differences between a greater and lesser yellowlegs or a least and semipalmated sandpiper.

Common shorebirds include killdeer, snipe, least and pectoral sandpipers, and greater and lesser yellowlegs.

Higher-powered optics make birds appear closer so they can be identified through the field marks that, for example, distinguish a lesser yellowlegs from a greater yellowlegs.

"I raised my binos to scan the shore, where I had willet, lesser yellowlegs and greater yellowlegs (No. 99) together in one view.

This year there have been a northern waterthrush, a lesser yellowlegs and a Wilson's snipe, all birds normally found in the United States and Canada.

Other shorebirds, including sanderlings, great and snowy egrets, dunlin, greater and lesser yellowlegs rest on the mudflats and the shoreline.

Those differences are often subtle: The greater yellowlegs has a long, slightly upturned bill and thicker leg joints, while the lesser yellowlegs has a straight bill.

Commonly observed species include greater and lesser yellowlegs, long-billed dowitchers, dunlins, western sandpipers, Wilson's plovers, killdeer and willets.

The Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) is a medium-sized shorebird similar in appearance to the larger Greater Yellowlegs.

Migrants include, Lesser Snow Geese, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Western Sandpipers.

Its closest relative is the Lesser Yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage.

An estimated 65,000 Canada geese summer in the Wilderness with more than 380,000 other waterfowl and shorebirds, including pintails, scaups, shovelers, scoters, widgeons, red-necked grebes, lesser yellowlegs, and Hudsonian godwits.

"At least three buff-breasted sandpipers were reported and singles of broad-billed sandpiper and Kentish plover in Cumbria, spotted sandpiper in Buckinghamshire, and lesser yellowlegs and great snipe in Norfolk," he says.

Migratory shorebirds that visit here include Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, and the Spotted Sandpiper, which has been confirmed as using the IBA as a breeding grounds.

Joe jumped out of the car with binoculars in hand, looked this way and that and happily announced his findings - among them the greater and lesser yellowlegs feeding on the slushy sand, a row of gray-breasted martins resting on a power line.

Rare vagrant species spotted in the area include Wilson's Phalarope, Lesser Yellowlegs, White-rumped Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Montagu's Harrier (in spring), Ortolan Bunting and Richard's Pipit (in autumn).

Will Wagstaff believes it has been the best September in the Isles of Scilly since the late 1980s with Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Baird's Sandpiper, Blue-winged Teal and Red-eyed Vireo on the islands.