9/24/2010

Western Willet Gobbling Crabs!

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

western willet catches crab 1
Look at the effort he puts into snapping that bill!

western willet catches crab 3
He was eating them like popcorn!

eastern willet
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 willet
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!

3 comments:

  1. Excellent captures of the Willet feeding. FAB.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome shots of the willet, Susan. Love the way you caught catching a crab!

    ReplyDelete

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