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Lesser Nighthawk: Medium-sized nightjar with gray and white mottled upperparts, white throat, and brown and white mottled underparts with dark belly bars. Wings are dark with conspicuous pale patches visible in flight. Tail is dark brown and has thin white bars across top. Darting erratic flight.
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Lincoln's Sparrow: Medium sparrow, dark-streaked pale brown upperparts, white underparts with dark streaks. Head has brown crown with gray central stripe, broad gray eyebrows and nape, pale eye-ring, and brown streak extending behind eye. Upper mandible is dark, lower mandible is pale orange-brown.
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Lucy's Warbler: Small warbler with pale gray upperparts, rust-brown crown and rump, white underparts. Eye ring is white. Wings are solid gray. Bill, legs and feet are black. It was named for Lucy Hunter Baird, daughter of Spencer F. Baird, ornithologist and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
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Lesser Black-backed Gull: Medium-sized gull with dark gray back and wings. Head, neck and underparts are white. Rump and tail are white. Bill is yellow with red spot near tip. The wings have dark tips with white spots; legs and feet are yellow. Eyes are yellow with red orbital rings.
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Laughing Gull: Medium gull, gray back, white underparts. Head has black hood, neck is white, and bill is red. Wings are gray and white-edged and black at tips; tail is white. Legs and feet are black. Slow flight with deep wing beats. Soars on updrafts. Named for its laughterlike call.
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Le Conte's Sparrow: Small sparrow, brown-streaked back, brown-streaked gray nape, pale gray underparts with streaks on sides, yellow breast. Head is flat, black-capped with a white median line. Face is yellow-orange with gray cheeks, black eye-line forming a T behind eye. Legs, feet are pink-brown.
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Lesser Prairie-Chicken: Medium, stocky grouse, brown overall with fine white bars. Head has yellow-orange combs over eyes, plumes that can be raised or laid along the neck. Red-orange air sacs on sides of neck inflate during courtship. Tail is short, black, and rounded. Yellow-brown feathered legs.
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Lark Sparrow: Medium sparrow with streaked, gray-brown upperparts and buff underparts with black breast spot. Head has black, white, and chestnut-brown stripes. Tail is long and black with white edges. Short, fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
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Lapland Longspur: Medium sparrow-like bird, brown-streaked black back. Underparts are white, streaked black on sides, flanks. Crown, face, and throat are black; nape is red-brown. Broad white stripe from eye to sides of breast. Bill is yellow with dark tip. Tail is long, white edges.
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Least Sandpiper: Small sandpiper, brown-scaled upperparts, rust-brown crown. Breast, throat are dark-spotted; belly, undertail are white. Wings have thin, white stripes visible in flight. Black line on rump extends onto tail. Legs and feet are yellow-green. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Least Tern: Small tern, slate-gray upperparts, white underparts. Crown, nape are black and forehead is white. Black leading edge of outer wing conspicuous in flight. Tail is forked. Bill and feet are yellow. Fast smooth flight with rapid wing beats. Hovers briefly before dipping down to sieze prey.
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Lesser Yellowlegs: Large sandpiper with gray and black mottled upperparts, white underparts and streaked upper breast and sides. Bill is straight and uniformly dark gray. White lower rump and dark-barred tail are visible in flight. Legs are long and yellow. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Long-billed Dowitcher: Large, stocky sandpiper with dark, mottled upperparts, dark cap and eyestripe, short white eyebrow, and red-brown underparts with lightly barred flanks. Bill is long, dark, and dagger like. Legs and feet are yellow-green. Swift direct flight, rapid wing beats.
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Ladder-backed Woodpecker: Small woodpecker with black-and-white barred upperparts, shoulders, and wings, underparts are buff-gray with black spots, buff-gray face, red crown, and black forehead, nape, rump, and tail. Outer tail feathers are white barred. Bill, legs and feet are black.
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Lark Bunting: Large sparrow, nearly black with large white wing patches, short, white-edged tail, and heavy, blue-gray bill. Forages in groung, low vegetation. Strong flight, alternates shallow wing beats with brief periods of wings pulled to sides. It is the state bird of Colorado.
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Lucifer Hummingbird: Small hummingbird, metallic green upperparts, head, sides, flared purple-red gorget (throat feathers) extending around sides of neck, white breast and belly. Tail is dark and deeply forked. Bill is long and decurved. Direct and hovering flight on rapid wing beats.
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Lilac-crowned Parrot: Medium green parrot, pale purple crown, red forehead. In flight shows blue-black trim on flight feathers and large red patch on secondaries. Hooked bill is dull yellow. Legs, feet are blue-gray. Feeds on fruits and seeds. Native to pacific coastal Mexico. AKA Finsch's Amazon.
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Least Grebe: Smallest of North America's grebes. Eyes dark yellow , plumage is dark black-gray, white undertail coverts and white wing patch in flight. Black bill. In winter shows white throat, in summer a dark throat. Seldom fly, rarely leave nesting places. When not nesting found in small flocks.
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Long-billed Thrasher: Medium, shy thrasher with gray-washed brown upperparts and heavily streaked, pale underparts. Eyes are orange. Bill is long, black, and decurved. Wings have two white bars. Tail is long and rufous. Legs and feet are brown. Eats insects, small amphibians and fruit.
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Least Flycatcher: Small flycatcher with olive-gray upperparts, gray breast, and pale yellow belly. Eye-ring is white. The bill has pale lower mandible with dark tip. Legs and feet are black. Feeds on insects, spiders, berries and seeds. Weak fluttering direct flight with shallow wing beats.
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Lesser Scaup: Medium diving duck with finely barred gray back and gray-washed white underparts. Head, neck, and breast are black with purple gloss. Eye is yellow. Bill is blue-gray. Wings are black with large, white patches; tail is black. Dives for food. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Least Bittern: Very small, secretive heron with black cap and back, and white throat and belly. Wings have conspicuous pale brown patches visible in flight. The bill, legs and feet are yellow. Feeds on fish, insects, small amphibians, crustaceans and invertebrates.
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Long-eared Owl: Medium-sized owl with gray-brown body with pale bars and heavy streaks on underparts. The facial disc is rufous with white a patch below the bill. The ear tufts are close together, long, black and rufous, and are not visible in flight. Bouyant, mothlike flight with silent wing beats.
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Little Blue Heron: Medium heron with slate-gray body and purple-blue head and neck. Eyes are yellow and bill is dark gray with black tip. Legs and feet are dark. The only dark heron species in North America in which the juvenile is white. Feeds on small crustaceans, vertebrates, and large insects.
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Louisiana Waterthrush: Large ground-dwelling warbler, dark olive-brown upperparts, heavily streaked white underparts with buff wash on belly and sides. White throat; eyestripe is dark and thick, white eyebrows widen behind eyes. Bill is long and heavy. Tail is short with pale buff undertail coverts.
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Loggerhead Shrike: Medium shrike with gray upperparts and paler gray underparts. Mask is black and throat is white. Bill is heavy and slightly hooked. Wings are black with white patches. Tail is long, black, and white-edged. Low, swift flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
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Lesser Goldfinch: Small finch with dark back (black in the east, dark green in the west), black crown, bright yellow underparts. Wings, tail black with white markings. Forages in shrubs, brush, weedy fields for seeds and insects. Swift flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
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Long-billed Curlew: Very large sandpiper with brown mottled upperparts, buff-brown underparts with dark streaks and spots. Bill is very long, decurved. Cinnamon-brown underwings visible in flight. Feeds by probing mud with bill or dunking head under water. Direct flight, steady, strong wing beats.
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