Nombre en español: Patiamarillo Grande
Nombre en inglés: Greater Yellowlegs
Nombre científico: Tringa melanoleuca
Familia: Scolopacidae
El chorlo mayor de patas amarillas, playero mayor patas amarillas, archibebe patigualdo grande o pitotoy grande (Tringa melanoleuca) es una especie de ave Charadriiforme de la familia Scolopacidae propia de Norteamérica, de apariencia similar a Tringa flavipes.
Hábitat
Su hábitat de cría son los pantanos y marismas de los bosques boreales de Canadá y Alaska. Acostumbra a vadear en aguas someras y se reconoce por sus trinos. Es migrador y durante el invierno boreal se la observa en Sudamérica
Descripción física
Los adultos tienen largas patas amarillas y un largo y delgado pico oscuro ligeramente curvado hacia arriba y cuya longitud es mayor que la cabeza.
El plumaje es blanco y negro por encima y muy moteado por debajo. Inverna en las riberas de lagos y marismas costeras, mudando a un plumaje más pálido y gris.
Alimentación
Sondea el barro y aguas someras en busca de invertebrados.
Greater yellowlegs
The greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) is a large North American shorebird. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific melanoleuca is from Ancient Greek melas, «black», and leukos, «white».
Description
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 colors 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. The greater yellowlegs and the greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage.
Adults have long yellow legs and a long, thin, dark bill which has a slight upward curve and is longer than the head. The body is grey-brown on top and white underneath; the neck and breast are streaked with dark brown. The rump is white. It ranges in length from 29 to 40 cm (11 to 16 in) and in weight from 111 to 250 g (3.9 to 8.8 oz). Wingspan is 23.6 in (60 cm).
Breeding & migration
Their breeding habitat is bogs and marshes in the boreal forest region of Canada and Alaska. They nest on the ground, usually in well-hidden locations near water. The three to four eggs average 50 mm (2.0 in) in length and 33 mm (1.3 in) in breadth and weigh about 28 g (0.99 oz). The incubation period is 23 days. The young leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching and then leave the vicinity of the nest within two days.
They migrate to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, the Caribbean, and south to South America. They are very rare vagrants to western Europe.
Diet
These birds forage in shallow water, sometimes using their bills to stir up the water. They mainly eat insects and small fish, as well as crustaceans and marine worms. It often walks in sand or mud and leaves clear tracks; it can be possible to gather information about this species using its tracks.
Call
The call is harsher, louder, and clearer than that of the lesser yellowlegs. They have a three-syllable whistle when flight-calling, with a lower pitched third syllable.
Fuentes: Wikipedia/eBird/xeno-canto
