Habitat

Common breeder in boreal forest (generally open forest) and forest/tundra transition habitats; relatively rare breeder in adjacent subarctic tundra. Often nests in drier, more vegetated habitats than sympatric Greater Yellowlegs; but occasionally found nesting within tens of meters of Greaters in wet bogs and open muskegs. Breeders move between nesting and foraging areas daily, sometimes traveling up to several kilometers one way (TLT). Typical nesting areas contain a combination of shallow wetlands, trees or shrubs, and open areas. Habitat at nesting areas has been described as open or semiopen forest (coniferous or deciduous) interspersed with marshes, bogs, ponds, lakes, and sedge meadows; burned-over barrens littered with fallen trees and adjacent to muskegs; bogs or fens dotted with small (about 30 × 30 m) wooded islands; grass meadows with patches of tall second-growth shrubs; and damp tussock-heath tundra adjacent to bogs (Street 1923, Rowan 1929, Irving 1960, Kessel and Schaller 1960, Campbell et al. 1990). Also nests in man-made habitats such as seismic and gas line right-of-ways, road allowances, and mine clearings (Peck and James 1983, Campbell et al. 1990). Typical foraging areas are located along the shores of large, shallow, freshwater lakes and sloughs (interior breeders; Rowan 1929, T. Randall in Bannerman 1961) or in portions of salt marshes that feature small brackish pools (coastal breeders; TLT). Broods are reared in fresh or brackish wetlands where shallow, vegetation-filled ponds are surrounded by shrubs and/or tall sedges (TLT).

Reported from sea level to 3,800 m. Inhabits a wide range of wetland habitats from large permanent water bodies to small ephemeral pools; typical wetland features shallow, vegetation-filled pond with adjacent open mud flats. Examples include salt, brackish, and freshwater marshes, wet meadows, mud flats (especially those with shallow tide or rain pools), estuaries, mangrove swamps, sandbars, riverbanks, lakeshores, rain puddles, sewage lagoons, reservoirs, prairie sloughs, and salt pans (Stone 1937, T. Randall in Bannerman 1961, Oberholser 1974, Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978, Weber et al. 1982, Cramp and Simmons 1983, Wunderle et al. 1989, Semenchuk 1992, Taylor et al. 1992, Canales 1996).

At important sites along the north coast of South America, individuals concentrate where shallow lagoons and brackish herbaceous marshes lie adjacent to the outer coast (Spaans 1978, Morrison and Ross 1989). The lagoons are filled with dead stumps of mangrove (Avicennia sp.) and the marshes with spike rush (Eleocharis mutata). Habitat use by Lesser Yellowlegs varies with rainfall across much of their South American wintering range. At coastal sites in Suriname, birds frequent tidal flats during the dry season (Aug–Dec) and adjacent shallow lagoons and marshes during the rainy season (Dec–Mar; Spaans 1978). At interior sites in Peru and Brazil, birds are common along rivers and lakes during the driest months (Sep–Nov) when low water levels expose mud flats and bars, but become scarce when rainfall increases (Dec–Mar; Antas 1983, Bolster and Robinson 1990).

Flooded agricultural fields (especially rice fields) have become an important habitat for Lesser Yellowlegs (Spaans 1978, McKay 1980, Remsen et al. 1991). In Suriname, densities highest (7.8 birds/ha) in recently flooded rice fields that were being harrowed, plowed, or leveled. Densities also relatively high in recently flooded fields with no agricultural activities (4.6 /ha) and in flooded fields a few days after such activities (2.6/ha; Hicklin and Spaans 1993). Inundated agricultural fields in se. Florida supported high (62.2/ha) densities of fall migrants for brief periods when appropriate habitat was available (Sykes and Hunter 1978). See also Food habits: microhabitat for foraging, below.