Willets are large gray to brown shorebirds with long gray legs with thick straight bills.
When I look at this photo of a Willet in the waves of the Gulf of Mexico I can almost hear the sounds, taste the tang of salt in the air and feel the warm water on my skin.
While I was up in Box Elder County last week I photographed my first Western Willet of the year nestled in sage with its eye on the sky for possible predators.
When the Willets first arrive I often hear them before I see them, they can be quite the chatterboxes early in the spring. Later in the season they aren't quite as vocal.
It was a pleasure for me to see and photograph a Willet two days ago on Antelope Island State Park and this Willet even started calling which made it even more of a pleasure for me.
While looking for Sage Thrashers to photograph on Antelope Island two days ago I swear I heard a Willet call. It was just one distant call but my ears perked up right away.
Just because Willets weren't split this year doesn't mean they won't be split in the future, who knows what changes will be made a year from now.
The question regarding this proposal is... Willet happen?
I'll be out photographing birds like this Willet foraging in the Gulf of Mexico, other wildlife and the beauty of nature.
This sleeping Willet image remains one of my favorite images because it was so comfortable in my presence that it fell asleep.
I photographed Long-billed Curlews, Willets and Chukars along with a few other birds and a Pronghorn buck. It was a beautiful spring day.
This Willet in golden light was photographed at Fort De Soto County Park in April of 2008 and is one of my favorite Willet images taken in Florida.
While looking for odd ducks on the Great Salt Lake yesterday I spotted two late migrating willets on what I thought was an exposed sandbar.
I headed up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning and I am very glad I did because of the wonderful birds I saw.
As we go into a holiday weekend filled with loud noises and flashes of fireworks I wanted to share something more peaceful, a simple image of a Willet walking on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
There was a very cooperative Willet on Antelope Island Yesterday that was close to a road and perched in sweet light and I couldn't resist taking portraits of this lovely shorebird.
There are two subspecies of Willets in North America and during the breeding season in Utah the birds we see are the Western subspecies.
I have often written how I long to hear the first Long-billed Curlew in the spring but I feel I should mention that I also anxiously await the first calls of migrating Willets too.
This Willet image was taken on August 12, 2007 which is now over seven years ago and I can easily recall how thrilled I was to photograph this shorebird.
It was delightful to have light and a six-pack (plus) of birds out on Antelope Island yesterday to test my new Nikon D7100.
Normally I prefer to have my subjects larger in the frame than this image of a Willet tiptoeing on the surface of the Great Salt Lake as it landed.
In the past 10 Days I have shared a Western Meadowlark and a Sage Thrasher perched on Sagebrush and today I am posting a Willet perched on Big Sagebrush.
Two days ago I was able to photograph a Willet on Antelope Island calling from some rocks and foraging in the grasses and blooming Redstem Filaree.
Yesterday for the first time this season I saw and heard Willets on Antelope Island State Park.
For those of us; including myself, who are tired of gray, cold days I thought this Willet photographed in Florida might delight in the sweet light, sea foam and warm Gulf waters the image contains.
I wanted to share some bird lift off images today so I rounded up a few that showed different styles of lift offs.
It won't be long before I start seeing juvenile Willets that are about the size of the one pictured here.
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.
Just a simple Willet image today that I took on Antelope Island State Park earlier this month.
The Willets are moving into their nesting territory on Antelope Island State Park and I am excited about that. What I am not excited about is that the biting gnats (no-see-ums) are back too.
Early morning light is a delight and adds a nice mood to images like this one of a Willet in flight.