Willet In Flight , Union Beach N.J.
Date 8 June 2010, 16:52:59
Author Peter Massas http://www.flickr.com/people/23505652@N03
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willet_In_Flight_,_Union_Beach_N.J..jpg

The willet (Tringa semipalmata formerly Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) is a large shorebird in the sandpiper family. Tringa semipalmata is found along the shores of North America and South America. Two subspecies (which may actually be different species) have very different breeding habitats and ranges. The eastern willet breeds in coastal salt marshes from Nova Scotia to Mexico and the Caribbean. It winters on the Atlantic coast of South America. The western willet breeds in freshwater prairie marshes in western North America. It winters on both coasts, from the mid-Atlantic states south to at least Brazil on the Atlantic, and from Oregon south to Peru and Chile on the Pacific.
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
Species: Tringa semipalmata
Subspecies:
- Tringa semipalmata semipalmata - eastern willet
- Tringa semipalmata inornata - western willet
Synonyms:
Catoptrophus semipalmatus
Totanus semipalmatus