Launch a web search on the Willet and two prevailing themes will emerge: the first is that this North American bird has now been spotted in six European countries, most recently in Cantabria in Spain in July 2025 after confirmed sightings in France, Finland, Italy, Portugal and Norway. The second refers to its most glorious characteristic, a white wing band that is so distinctive in flight. 

You won’t see anything related to either of those in any of the 22 images here. For that I can only apologise in advance.

These were taken near the town of Emerald Isle on Bogue Banks Island in North Carolina back in August of 2013, a dozen years before the sighting in northern Spain. And the Willets that make up this initial galley all have either one or both feet planted firmly, and in some cases fairly deeply, in or on the wet sand.

The Willet is comprised of two subspecies, Tringa semipalmata inornata or Western Willet, that breeds in primarily freshwater habitats in the western states of the US and T. s. semipalmata or Eastern Willet, which mainly sticks to coastal areas and marshes on the Atlantic coast, from New Brunswick in Canada to Mexico’s Tamaulipas State. Birds of the World notes that “Eastern Willets often have abundant food resources but limited nesting habitat, while Western Willets often have abundant nesting habitat but unpredictable food resources, depending on wetland availability and drought.”

These 22 images are of the Eastern Willet, many of whom were illustrating how abundant their food supply was on that particular afternoon. They are similar in size to a Whimbrel, with whom they will associate, but the Willet’s long bill is straight while the Whimbrel’s is curved. Willets are also lighter in colour. I mostly remember how their long dull greenish-gray legs moved continually, movement on the speedometer somewhere between somewhat deliberative and relatively quick.

Why 22 images? A rule of these galleries is to limit the number of images to my best or most instructive 25, and then replacing some when I capture better ones. Unless I can add to that list on rare sightings in Europe, I won’t be adding any images from the US east coast soon, so I settled on 22. For now. (Oh, almost forgot: here’s a 23rd, a snap of a Willet at sunset posted a few days ago.)

About those European vagrants, which given where I live, I’m particularly intrigued with: here’s an article about a 2008 sighting on Italy’s Adriatic coast in Abruzzo, which the authors contend is a Western Willet and here is mention of Portugal’s first Willet, in 2010.

Willet (Tringa semipalmata) in brief (with assist from WordPress AI but double-checked at Birds of the World and Wikipedia):

• Size: Approximately 38-43 cm (15-17 in) in length; Wingspan: 70-80 cm (27-31 in)
• Diet: Primarily feeds on invertebrates, including crustaceans and mollusks, as well as small fish.
• Habitat: Found in coastal marshes, mudflats, and beaches.
• Physical Description: Long legs and a long, straight bill; Brown and gray plumage with distinctive black-and-white wing patterns; Often shows a noticeable white stripe down the back during flight.
• Breeding: Nests on the ground in grasslands or marshes; Lays 3-4 eggs, which are cryptically colored for camouflage.
• Conservation Status: Classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, but populations are monitored due to habitat loss.
• Unique Behaviors: Exhibits a distinctive, loud call that resembles its name; Known for its unique feeding technique, where it taps the ground to locate prey.
• Range: Breeds in North America, primarily in the U.S. (east of the Rocky Mountains), southern Canada, and some parts of Central America; Migrates along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to wintering grounds in coastal areas of the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.
• Migration: Migratory species, moving south for winter; tends to return to the same breeding grounds year after year.

Links for further reference:

• Willet at Birds of the World
• Willet at BirdLife DataZone
• Willet at eBird
• Willet at Avibase
• Willet at Wikipedia
• Willet at Oiseaux.net
• Willet at iNaturalist

Photos from 31 August 2013. Post last updated on 27 January 2026.

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Added to the Bird of the Week post hosted by I.J on his site Don’t Hold Your Breath. He continues with his shrike theme this week with a look at the Isabelline Shrike.

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