Semipalmated Snipe, or Willet

A Willet standing on the beach is simply a large plain shorebird; but its identity is obvious as soon as it spreads its wings, and it even calls its name in flight. Two distinct populations inhabit North America, one nesting in prairie marshes, the other in salt marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. In favorable areas in the middle Atlantic states, Willets are abundant, nesting in colonies, their ringing calls echoing across the tidelands on spring mornings.