Lesser Yellowlegs
Restoring Lesser Yellowlegs populations: A Road to Recovery Pilot Species Project
The Lesser Yellowlegs is a long-distance neotropical migrant with an annual range that spans the Western Hemisphere. The species has steeply declined during the past several decades and as a result it is considered highly imperiled in Canada where it was listed as threatened and is a bird of high conservation concern in the continental United States. This medium-sized shorebird, about the mass of a deck of cards, migrates from the boreal wetlands of Alaska and northern Canada to South America, undertaking an approximately 8,000-mile journey twice a year. By following their epic journey using tiny satellite transmitters, researchers have learned a great deal about where these birds stop to refuel and threats they encounter during migration. The Lesser Yellowlegs is likely the most widely hunted shorebird in the Atlantic Americas Flyway, and current harvest levels in South America are thought to be unsustainable. Additional threats include habitat loss, pesticide effects, and wetland drying caused by a changing climate.

Conservation Projects
Lesser Yellowlegs Lightning Talk
Lightning talk by Katie Christie for the Lesser Yellowlegs Working Group
Lesser Yellowlegs: A path to recovery

Lesser Yellowlegs – photo by Katie Christie
A Year in the Life of a Lesser Yellowlegs
The story of endurance, perseverance, and defeat. Since 2018, ornithologists have worked to identify the cause(s) of the decline by tracking the annual movements of 115 adult Lesser Yellowlegs. The tracked birds originated from seven breeding populations dispersed across Alaska and Canada.
Pilot Species Working Groups
With generous support from the Knobloch Family Foundation, Road to Recovery is able to begin supporting the pilot projects focused on the recovery of four species, three of which are Tipping Point Species. The purpose of these projects is to provide a proof of concept for advancing both biological and social science targeted at identifying and addressing causes of species declines.