Western Willet Gobbling Crabs!

You wouldn't believe how many little crabs this guy was catching. This is a juvenile Western Willet.


Look at the effort he puts into snapping that bill!


He was eating them like popcorn!


I didn't even know there were two kinds of willet around here, so I took 200 pictures of the other bird because I didn't know what it was. As it turns out, Eastern Willets are more compact, smaller, darker colored, and have thicker bills than Western Willets.


Western Willets are more elongated , longer-legged, and somewhat larger overall. They are paler and more muted in color, and have a longer, bill that is thinner at the top. I'm still not sure if this counts as a new bird on my Lifelist!