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CoastalScrapeMedium · 246 g
What the Willet sounds like
ID tip
The willet is a particularly elegant and heavily built shorebird with a structure similar to that of the common redshank but being larger in size than the greater yellowlegs while resembling a godwit in flight with black primary coverts and primaries contrasting with a broad white band, white secondaries with a white rump and gray tail band. With its reclassification into the Tringa genus, it stands as the largest species in this prominent sandpiper genus. It is 31–41 cm (12–16 in) in overall length and weighs 200–330 g (7.1–11.6 oz). Voice: The willet's name is onomatopoeic and refers to its loud piercing "pill-will-willet" territorial song., which is higher pitched and repeated at a faster rate in Eastern willets than in Western birds.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Willet
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Willet
The map shades 48 countries with regular records, and 5 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Norway, Portugal, Uruguay, St. Barthélemy, France.
About the Willet
The willet is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa. Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage. It breeds in North America and the West Indies and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Common RedshankTringa totanusCommon redshanks in breeding plumage are a marbled brown color, slightly lighter below.
Lesser YellowlegsTringa flavipesThe lesser yellowlegs is a medium-large shorebird, 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in overall length and with a wingspan of 59–64 cm (23–25 in) and a weight of 67–94 g (2.4–3.3 oz).
Common GreenshankTringa nebulariaCommon greenshanks are brown in breeding plumage, and grey-brown in winter.
Side by side: Greater Yellowlegs vs Willet · Lesser Yellowlegs vs Willet · Common Redshank vs Willet · Common Greenshank vs Willet
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