Eastern Willet in flightEastern Willet in flight – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 330mm, natural light

There are two subspecies of Willets which Western and Eastern. Here in Utah I only see the Western subspecies but in Florida I could see both during the course of a year. This Willet is the Eastern subspecies that I photographed at Fort De Soto’s north beach in 2009.

The Willet flew in so close to me that I had to back up my zoom so I wouldn’t clip any of the bird. I had been photographing a static shorebird when I noticed the Willet flying in and I didn’t have time to change my settings. I would have increased my ISO some and changed my aperture to f6.3 to get a faster shutter speed if there had been time but since the Willet was gliding in I had just enough shutter speed to freeze the action. The reflection from the white sand below the bird helped to light up the underside of the shorebird’s wings.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Willet photos plus facts and information about this species.