Willets
Today’s look into the natural world is centered on one of our most common visitors here on the Florida Atlantic coast, the Willet. What drew my attention to this bird today was at first the call “Peer-will-willet” (button below) and then the fact when I first saw them, they were in a group of 5. Now 5 is not a big number when we’re talking about most flocks of birds, but the Willet is a solitary bird, most often seen along these beaches alone. Hazarding a guess, there is a slight possibility that these birds are getting ready to head west to their breeding grounds all the way out to the Dakotas, Northern California, Oregon,Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
Once you hear the bird, a quick glance at the Willet in flight will display an unmistakable field mark…it’s bright white wing bar as seen here.
Our bird today was doing what most shore birds do…foraging for food. The Willet will dine on insects, worms, and crustaceans such as this favorite of their’s, the sand flea. The birds we saw today were all of the western population. These are distinguishable by their lighter color and a slightly larger size than the eastern group. The Eastern population will start showing up along our coast in April as they return from their wintering grounds in Central and South America. There is a period of overlap as the Westerns begin to head west and the eastern begin to arrive back. At that time, it is pretty easy to tell which is which. The archival photo below which I took 6 years ago shows how dark the Eastern willet is compare to its western cousin.
Eastern willet photographed in Chincoteague Island National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia April 27, 2019
Western willet photographed this morning (3/28/25) in New Smyrna Beach, FL
One can only guess why a population of birds that lives most of its life and breeds out on the plains of northwest US and Canada finds it necessary to migrate this far east during get winter. Why not head down the west coast of the country for a much shorter trip? And if the east coast it so much better for foraging and because of its warmer climate, why don’t the Eastern willets just hang out here instead of traveling all the way down to Central and South America? Mother Nature is certainly full of surprises and always keeps us guessing!
