Tagged With: Tringa

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

We walked on the beach at the east end of the island this morning. It was a clear day with very bright sun so I wore a hat and shirt and put sunscreen on exposed skin. We looked for shells but didn’t find many. Past years have been good for shell-hunting but there don’t seem to be as many this year. That means that the beach is almost pure sand, which in general isn’t a bad thing. But it’s one less thing for us to do. We saw a few sandpipers as we walked including this willet (Tringa semipalmata). They are very distinctive birds and quite common on the beaches of North Carolina.

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Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

Cathy and I visited friends in Delaware this weekend. We went to Prime Hook, a National Wildlife Refuge on Delaware Bay. The background of this photo makes it a little hard to see the bird at first, but otherwise, I like the picture. This is a greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca). They are differentiated from the lesser yellowlegs (T. flavipes) by their size (if seen side by side), by the Greater’s longer, thicker and slightly upturned bill. While we are in the northern most extent of their winter range, they migrate through on their way to the mid-latitudes of Canada for the summer.

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