This species typically feeds on prey so small I can’t tell what it is, even in highly cropped versions of my photos. This instance was an exception.
Plus: Incontrovertible evidence that birders really do have a sense of humor.
I spent some time with this Greater Yellowlegs three days ago while it was feeding at Farmington Bay WMA. Most of the time I couldn’t tell for sure what it was eating, even when I inspected my photos carefully at 100% resolution, but in two series of photos I could just barely tell it was a tiny fish that must have very recently hatched.
However, this particular fish is a giant compared to the rest of them and the yellowlegs had to work harder to capture it and keep it from escaping than it did with the others,
It was also more difficult to swallow but eventually it went down the hatch with no further ado.
This is an older photo of a different Greater Yellowlegs that better illustrates another point I’d like to make about the species. And about birders.
During the breeding season their legs and feet are bright orange-yellow (although those colors aren’t quite so bright during the rest of the year). Some birds have common names that many think are poor choices for the species. Ring-necked Duck comes to mind as an example because the ring on the neck is so very difficult to see but obviously yellowlegs are appropriately named.
I’m getting somewhere with all this so stick with me.
Birders and others have assigned many colloquial names for groups of birds of the same or similar species. A few examples might include:
- crows – a murder or congress (of crows)
- eagles – a convocation
- cormorants – a gulp
- ducks – a raft
- emus – a mob
- geese – a gaggle (on the ground) or a skein (in flight)
- grouse – a covey
- hawks – a kettle
- jays – a scold
- peacocks – an ostentation
- pelicans – a squadron
- quails – a bevy
- starlings – a chattering
- vultures – a wake
As we can see many of those names are quite descriptive, creative and/or colorful. The name for a group of yellowlegs is, wait for it…
An incontinence.
Think about it in the context of leg color.
Birders are often thought of as a serious, highly-focused group of nerds with tunnel vision but you can’t tell me we don’t have a sense of humor.
Ron
PS – My good friend Jim DeWitt (Hieronymus Bosch) made the following comment on this post on Facebook. I liked it so much I had to share: “My personal favorite collective noun is a Durante of Toucans, although you have to be of a certain age to get the reference. It’s more proof of your thesis.”
Thanks for another chuckle and more proof of my thesis, Jim.
I got it. I was actually going to mention the connection between “incontinence” and “yellow legs” in another blog, but held back.
This was terrific. Initially, I read it as “birds” have a sense of humor, so I avidly kept reading just to see how a Greater Yellowlegs would have a good chuckle. I always knew “birders” have a sense of humor. 😉 At any rate, thank you. Amazing terms for bird groups!
I had no clue about the intensity of Yellowlegs’s yellow legs. I get such a kick out of the way your posts connect one subject to another.
I was able to imagine why most of the groups were named as they are. Except the incontinence of Yellowlegs. Everyone knows bird poop is mostly white, so this seems to be a case of blatant, but certainly not uncommon, anthropomorphism. Couldn’t figure the Kettle of Hawks, either, until this googled up: https://www.thespruce.com/glossary-definition-kettle-386843.
For those who don’t follow the link Lyle provided here’s the gist of it:
“The term kettle is believed to have originated from descriptions of hawk flocks looking like soup boiling in a cauldron, pot, or kettle due to the bowl-like shape of thermal currents the birds use for soaring. The birds’ pattern of flight is also similar to the steam rising from a teakettle.”
I do love ‘collective’ names. So many of them are apt and/or funny.
Mind you an incontinence could readily apply to rather a lot of birds as the state of our front veranda would attest.
Glad that the Yellowleg’s eyes wasn’t bigger than its stomach.
EC, I’ll never forget (or forgive…) a Great Blue Heron who decided to roost in the huge tree (before I had it cut down) over my deck for a few weeks. My deck was the worst mess with his poop that you can imagine. I had to use a snow shovel to scrape the worst of it off before I used the hose on it and when I was finished it was still stained.
How can a single bird produce so much poop? Took a lot of fish to make that much of it…
A group of hummingbirds is a charm.
Yup.
I LOVE a wake of vultures, a murder of crows and a scold of jays, despite that the wake and murder come directly out of the era of the black plague and has led to hatred of anybody/anything black! But jays and the whole darn corvid family ROCK! Many of the others work well, too! A squadron of pelicans is wonderful, too. I hadn’t yet heard a Durante of toucans, but I’m old enough to laugh at that one.
A scourge of humans really fits, doesn’t it? I vividly remember the first time I saw humanity through the eyes of Mariah (female redtail hawk). What an epiphany! Up until that point, I’d bought into the idea that we humans were the top of the food chain. Yeah, no. We’re actually pretty darn pitiful and we survive only through the idea that we have a captive food source, both animal and vegetable. And while that was a pretty darn good idea, it’s led to a bunch of other atrocities that violate the Rules of Nature. The whole idea that this planet belongs to us (this land is MINE and no other creature can be here) just doesn’t work for our overall health and wellness.
A scourge of humans works all too well, Laura.
I read “Durante” as Duarte (dyslexia strikes again) and couldn’t quite get the association. Finally realized Durante is Durante (a big moment for me) and I still didn’t get it, until I heard a voice from the past saying-
“that ain’t no banana…”
Yup, that was him. I always liked Jimmy’s infectious personality and smile.
“Creative” names if nothing else! 🙂 The Yellowlegs are interesting birds – the photo certainly shows that even with a long bill their mouths apparently aren’t that big. “Yellow snow” always a warning. Hadn’t realized you were downwind from Hanford Nuclear Plant….. Tho we weren’t aware of it at the time, more radiation from the nuclear tests made it up here than they told anyone. 🙁 Joe is a “Atomic Vet” – advanced engineering army group for testing at Desert Rock during Korea. Winds did “funny things”.
“oops” Scourge of Humans indeed! 🙁
Judy, not drinking the milk was much harder on me than not eating snow. Growing up I was a milk fiend. I still am when chocolate donuts are part of the equation.
I’m chuckling, smiling, can’t stop! Love your last “Birders are often thought of as a serious, highly-focused group of nerds with tunnel vision but you can’t tell me we don’t have a sense of humor.” Really?! More I think about it – Yup I know some of them. Sense of humor definitely. Also know some that play practical jokes, good nature, not mean, but more in the nerdy vein.
Great shots of the Yellowlegs!
I think I’d appreciate some of the practical jokers if they don’t take it too far. I’m a fan of creative practical jokes but some folks don’t know where to draw the line.
Nice photos Ron, especially the one balancing on the rock. We get a few Greater Yellowlegs this time of the year and I always enjoy taking photos of them. An education on the group names for sure. I knew a few of them, but many are new to me. Some are very clever and apropos as well. My favorites here are a “Wake of Vultures”, and a “Scold of Jays.” And being almost 82 I can laugh at the “Durante of Toucans” where some of your younger readers might not understand that one.
Everett, some of my favorites are “wake of vultures” and “ostentation of peacocks”.
Love the Durante of toucans! The smothering of humans seems more poetic, even though at the moment a scourge may be more accurate in the age of the geological epoch of the anthropocene.
Nancy, with my current pessimistic view of my own species “scourge” seems more fitting. I really wish that wasn’t the case.
A scold of jays and a squadron of pelicans, just too good. A gaggle of geese, perfect.
I’ll offer this up: “a smothering of humans”, but I’ll wager someone here will improve significantly on it.
I’ve never been tempted by yellow snow, so the warning has worked, and I’ve passed it on.
I love that last shot of old yellowlegs.
Dave, a “scourge of humans” comes to mind quickly for me but that’s too easy. And obvious.
I’ll vote for “scourge”!
🙂
I’m thinking more along the line of a “shit show” of humans.
I laughed out loud at an incontinence of yellowlegs. And woke mama dog. 😉
And yes, I also remember the admonition against snow of any “color.” I recall waiting for new snowfall because everything was safe…for a while!
Good, glad you enjoyed it, Marty. I’ve been wanting to make mention of the humor of “incontinence” for a name for many months but until 3 days ago I hadn’t taken any recent photos of yellowlegs that I found interesting.
It isn’t easy to find any humor in incontinence…
Unfortunately, it is sometimes the case of which came first, the humor or the incontinence. 😉
The photos are delightful, and the humor’s equally so. Now, I’m remembering one inviolable rule from childhood: don’t eat the yellow snow.
Ha, I well remember being told not to eat yellow snow too when I was very young, Shoreacres.
However, when I was slightly older all of us kids in northwest Montana were told not to eat snow of any color and that was an emphatic order! We were downwinders from the Hanford Nuclear plant in Washington state so we couldn’t eat snow or even drink local milk for fear of radioactive contamination. My sister Mona actually developed thyroid cancer later that was likely related to being a downwinder.
I remember longing to be able to eat snow again but I’d still have avoided the yellow stuff…
My gosh. I’ve never heard the term ‘downwinder,’ and truth to tell, the history of the Hanford plant pretty much escaped me. It’s another reminder of how large our country is, and how much can be going on ‘here’ that no one out ‘there’ knows anything about. After reading the Wikipedia entry, I ordered this book from interlibrary loan. Thanks for the interesting comment.