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Lesser Yellowlegs : Lesser Yellowlegs Nayangkayuli The Yup’ik name I learned in the Lower Yukon River village of Marshall says a great deal about this little sandpiper. Nayangkayuli means, “the one that is really good at greeting you.” And I take it this is when you stumble into their nesting area and they begin to let the whole neighborhood know about it with their high-pitched scolding call, tew, tew, tew, repeated over and over again. When the birds are perched on tall snags, you can hear these chiding cries for a quarter-mile or more. They do have another much sweeter call, though, that is used in early spring on their breeding grounds, and it sounds much like that of a killdeer, kidl-deer, kidl-deer, kidl-deer. When you hear this telltale sound you know spring has truly arrived. And one good reason is that the marshes where the birds find most of their food must have open water. It is there the yellowlegs wade in the shallow water and forage for aquatic insects, including water beetles, dragonfly nymphs and crane fly larvae. They also feed on various crustaceans and small minnows. They mostly pick their food from on or just below the surface of the water, but they sometimes swing their bills back and forth to stir up the prey from the bottom. They will wade up to their breasts and even swim for short distances to snag their prey. I’ve also often seen them feeding on land insects. This large assortment of feeding strategies is probably one reason they are such a numerous sandpiper. But there are other reasons, which have much to do with their nesting behavior. After a rousing display flight by the male where he rapidly rises and falls above a watching female while loudly singing his kidl-deer, kidl-deer song, the female indicates her acceptance of him as her mate by making a shallow scrape on dry ground near a log or pile of brush and lining it with leaves and grass. There she lays four tawny-gray brown-blotched eggs in the shape of a cross with their narrow ends facing toward the center. Both parents help brood the eggs, which all hatch at the same time about 22 days later. As with all sandpipers, the downy young are precocial and leave the nest right after hatching to escape possible predators. Although the chicks are able to feed themselves from the get-go, both parents tend them by day and brood them by cool night, especially when they are very young. Their mother is the first to leave them, even before they fledge, but when they finally take their first flight about 20 days after they step out of the nest, their father says goodbye, too, and they are completely on their own. Unlike humans, the young grow up fast, taking maximum advantage of the ample food supply during the summer in preparation for an early fall departure for southern climes where they will spend the next seven months. If the number of common English names is any indication of the success of the Lesser yellowlegs in today’s difficult world with so much habitat destruction everywhere, this bird is truly successful. Here are some: Common yellowlegs, Lesser long-legged tattler, Lesser tell-tale, Lesser yellow-shanks, Little stone-bird, Little stone snipe, Little tell-tale, Little yelper, Summer yellowlegs, Yellow-legged plover, and my favorite, Small cucu. In Yup’ik, there are also several names for the bird: Cenairaq (referring to its sandy beach habitat), Pipipiaq (imitative of its call), Sugg’erpak (probably referring to its bigger cousin, the Greater yellowlegs, because of its longer bill), Tuntussiik, Tuntussiikaq, and Tuntussuliangalek. The meaning of the last three is a riddle for me. Do they refer to the long legs of a caribou (tuntu)? Finally, its scientific name, Tringa flavipes, is also interesting. The name may be as ancient as the Yup’ik names above. “Tryngas” is a Greek word used by Artistotle 2300 years ago to describe any white-rumped waterbird. Flavipes is a combination of the Latin words, flavus, yellow, and pes, foot. And there you have it. A pretty cool bird, eh? » List of Yupik Birds

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