Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus

Identification Tips:

• Sexes similar
• Large, plump-looking, long-legged shorebird
• Long, thick, straight bill
• Bill black or blue-gray with darker tip
• Blue-gray legs
• Bold black and white wing pattern
• Whitish tail with dusky terminal band

Adult alternate:

• Head, neck, back and upperwings gray-brown mottled with black
• Pale stripe above darker lores
• Breast and flanks barred extensively with black (in Eastern C.s.semipalmatus)
• Breast and flanks barred with narrow dark bars (in Western C.s.inornatus)
• White belly

Adult basic:

• Pale gray-brown head, neck, back, upperwings and breast
• Pale area above darker lores
• White belly

Juvenile:

• Warm brown head, neck, back, breast and upperwings
• Buff notches on wing feathers appear as white spots on back

Similar species:

Yellowlegs are smaller and slimmer, with much more slender bills and yellow legs, and lack the striking black-and-white wing pattern. Godwits have much longer, thinner, upturned bills with a pink base and dark tip.