This is Bird Note.

True to their name, greater yellow legs are shorebirds with bright yellow legs and feet.

Ever wonder why?

Perhaps it's so they can see them better.

Waiting in shallow water to capture small fish and insects,

a yellow legs can keep track of its legs by their bright

color contrasting with the sometimes dark and irregular bottom. Keeping track of toes allows quick

movements without a misstep. A sandalling, on the other hand, has black legs and feet.

Running up the sandy beach in front of an advancing wave,

it too is aware of every step as those black toes stand out against the pale sand.

It turns out that shorebirds that forage on dark substrates, such as mudflats, usually have pale legs, while those on paler substrates,

such as sand beaches, have dark legs. Mother Nature is good with the fine details. How about the brilliant orange legs of ruddy turnstone? Well, they forage just about anywhere on the shore, and those orange legs stand out like a neon light.

Black-necked stilts have bright pink legs, and like yellow legs, they wade in water, where one

bright color is probably as good as another.

See photos of all of these birds,

and get a look at those legs.

When you come to our website, birdnote.org.

For Birdnote, I'm Michael Stein.