Willet
From Free net encyclopedia
{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Willet | status = Conservation status: Lower risk (lc) | image = Catoptrophorus-semipalmatus-001.jpg | image_width = 256px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Charadriiformes | familia = Scolopacidae | genus = Catoptrophorus | genus_authority = Bonaparte, 1827 | species = C. semipalmatus | binomial = Catoptrophorus semipalmatus | binomial_authority = (Gmelin, 1789) }}
- This article is about the bird species. For the town of New York refer to Willet, New York.
The Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) is a large shorebird of the sandpiper family.
Adults have grey legs and a long, straight, dark and stout bill. The body is dark grey on top and light underneath. The tail is white with a dark band at the end. The wings have a distinctive black and white pattern.
Their breeding habitat is salt marshes in eastern North America from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico and fresh water prairie marshes in western North America from southern Canada to the northern United States. They nest on the ground, usually in well-hidden locations in short grass, often in colonies.
Willets migrate to the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to northern South America in the west and to the Pacific coast from California to South America in the east.
These birds forage on mudflats or in shallow water, probing or picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects, crustaceans and marine worms, but also eat some plant material.
The willets' population declined sharply due to hunting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their population has since increased, but they are still considered at risk, especially in light of continued habitat loss.
See also
- Yellowlegs (smaller, similar bird)