# Willet

*Tringa semipalmata*

While they appear plain gray when resting, willets reveal a startling, high-contrast black and white stripe pattern on their wings the moment they take flight.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Scolopacidae › Tringa
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** wetland
- **Habitat:** Salt marshes, mudflats, sandy beaches, rocky coasts, and freshwater wet prairies.
- **Diet:** Invertebrates, including fiddler crabs, marine worms, insects, mollusks, and occasionally small fish.
- **Range:** North America, Central America, Caribbean, Northern South America
- **Size:** Length: 33-41 cm (13-16 in), Wingspan: 70-80 cm (27-31 in)
- **Lifespan:** 10-15 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Coastal development, habitat loss, sea-level rise, and disturbance from recreational beach activities and off-leash pets.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. If you encounter a willet, maintain a safe distance of at least 50 feet, especially on beaches where they may be nesting or feeding. If they begin calling loudly or circling overhead, they are defensive of a nearby nest; slowly and carefully back away to avoid stepping on their highly camouflaged eggs.

## About

The willet ( Tringa semipalmata ), formerly in the monotypic genus Catoptrophorus as Catoptrophorus semipalmatus , is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper, and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa . Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage....

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/dd9429fc-301b-4e2b-ba0f-fbaa21c82c72
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/144491
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tringa semipalmata
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/248931016/medium.jpg (Daniel Pineda Vera, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.