47 Lesser Yellowlegs

[brucema...@gmail.com]

Ken Knowles and I counted 47 Lesser Yellowlegs at Renews on 13 August. This is a very high number for any location in eastern Newfoundland. There were also many Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 2 SB Dowitchers etc. Did not see matching numbers of Lesser Yellowlegs at other shorebird sites we visited today = Bear Cove, PCS, Long Beach and Trepassey.

We started the search for rare fall warblers on the Bear Cove Point road and found plenty of local breeding species but nothing out of the ordinary.

The only shearwater between Portugal Cove South and Cape Race that we saw was one Manx Shearwater. Three Barn Swallows were at Cape Race briefly.

KK
BMt

[Richard Thomas]

A "very high number" of Lesser Yellowlegs indeed, but not unprecedented. On July 27 last year, Dave Shepherd called me to say that he and Julie were watching a BIG flock of Lesser Yellowlegs around Tern Island (Daniel's Point, Trepassey). I went over and was able to count about 85 Lessers plus a handful of Greaters. Later that afternoon I came across what I assumed was the same flock on a gravel bar at the SW end of Biscay Bay Pond, and tallied at least 77 Lessers.
I find it intriguing that while Greater is Newfoundland's common, "default" Yellowlegs, Lessers are roughly 10 times more common than Greaters as vagrants to Britain.
RT