#1049 · 🐦 birds

Willet

Tringa semipalmata

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in Europe, not in NL

7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Bridget Spencer · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Michael Long · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © kindjay · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Miguel A Mejias, PhD. · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © jorgeiriberri47 · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Jason Headley · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Michael Woodruff · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The willet ( Tringa semipalmata ), formerly in the monotypic genus Catoptrophorus as Catoptrophorus semipalmatus , is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper, and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa . Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage....

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 83,376iNaturalist observations
weight 301.4 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
83,376 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 301 g.
Scientifically named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 (237 years ago).