General

Willet: Large sandpiper with mottled gray-brown upperparts, white rump and lightly streaked and barred white underparts. Broad white stripes on black wings are visible in flight. Tail is white with dark brown tip. Legs are blue-gray. Sexes are similar. Winter adult is plain gray-brown above and white below.

Range and Habitat

Willet: Breeds from central Canada to northeastern California and Nevada and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts south from Nova Scotia. Spends winters along coasts from Oregon and the Carolinas southward. Preferred habitats include mud banks, tides, coasts and coastal lagoons.

Breeding and Nesting

Willet: Four to five brown marked, gray to pale olive eggs are laid in a nest lined with weeds or bits of shell built in a depression on open ground or in a grass clump. Incubation ranges from 22 to 29 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Willet: Feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, insects, and small fish; forages by picking food from shallows and probing mud with tip of its bill.

Vocalization

Willet: Call is a loud, ringing "pill-will-willet" and a quieter "kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk."

Similar Species

Willet: Yellowlegs are smaller and slimmer, with more slender bills and yellow legs, and lack striking black-and-white wing pattern.