Greater Yellowlegs in Port Elgin - Chasing Lifers

Chasing Lifers is a blog series where I write about my personal experiences seeing and capturing photos of species for the first time.

One of two Greater Yellowlegs I saw on the shores of Lake Huron this fall.

It’s been a busy start to the Fall season with lots of work and personal travel all while getting back into the regular training routine of the water polo season. Even still, despite not many dedicated photography/birding outings, I’ve managed to sneak away when possible with my camera into nature and have managed to capture some exciting species.

One of my favourite encounters of the Fall so far was on a recent work trip to Port Elgin, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron. Days were busy on this trip with little free time but one evening I got the chance to get out for a short walk along the North Shore Trail in town.

Other than large flocks of ring-billed gulls I wasn’t seeing too many signs of bird life and my hopes weren’t too high at capturing much of interest. I wasn’t complaining though as this stretch of trail along the coast of Lake Huron was stunning on its own.

After probably 20 minutes of walking I noticed two small shapes moving along the shore amongst the rocks. I was pretty far away and snapped what I could but wanted to get closer. The two shorebirds were scurrying around looking for dinner and despite my best efforts to get closer they were moving the opposite direction from me and definitely were quite shy. They even took off temporarily to avoid some people sitting on a bench a little further up the shoreline from me.

Tough to get close when approaching shorebirds from behind.

I remembered a valuable technique taught by Simon D'entremont in his Youtube videos where he mentioned that when photographing shorebirds it’s best to give them lots of space by swinging out parallel to them and attempt to get in front based on the direction they are scavenging, and then get real low and wait for them to come to you.

I got back onto the bike trail further inland from the shore and walked as fast as I could ahead of them while trying my best to keep them in view in the distance. Once I got about 200 meters ahead of them I found a nice spot between some rocks along the water where I lay down and settled in using the rocks as a brace for my camera lens. It worked perfectly and both the birds walked right up to me and around me unbothered.

Getting closer…

…and closer…

Some nice eye contact here! While laying on the ground they were not bothered by me at all.

Despite being a fairly large shorebird, they move so quickly amongst the rocks and in the water. Had to keep the shutter speed fairly high.

Every now and then one of the Greater Yellowlegs would extend its neck upwards - presumably to look around for any threats.

Can really appreciate the long yellow legs here.

The pair stuck closely together.

Here you can notice the subtle upturn of the beak that is unique to the Greater Yellowlegs.

After they passed by me where I was laying down, they spent some time foraging in an adjacent pool of water off the shore where you could really see their reflection in the calm water.

I had a feeling they were Greater Yellowlegs but I wasn’t 100% sure at the time. It was only until after I uploaded to iNaturalist that I knew for sure these were Greater Yellowlegs which were lifers to me!

This species breeds throughout the summer in the boreal forest wetlands of Canada and Alaska. At this time in the fall, they’ll be passing through southern Canada back to their wintering range throughout Central and South America. Greater Yellowlegs are apparently one of the first shorebirds to migrate north in the spring and one of the last to leave in the fall.

Their typical diet includes insects, crustaceans, mollusks, worms, leeches and even small fish (they’re known to chase and snatch minnows or sticklebacks in shallow water). In the video below you see a few instances where they catch some prey (looks like some small fish to me):

This was a very special and peaceful moment that I got to spend with these birds at sunset in a beautiful location. Its times like these that make getting out with the camera so rewarding. You never quite know what you’re going to find or experience. I have no idea how long this encounter lasted; time seemed to just slow down and for a few moments nothing in the world existed outside of this stretch of shoreline and these birds.