{"id":84384,"date":"2020-04-25T06:07:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T12:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=84384"},"modified":"2020-04-25T07:44:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T13:44:29","slug":"my-first-willet-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/25\/my-first-willet-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Willet Of The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a reliable bird. I found “him” two days in a row, at the same time of early morning and on the same lonely and isolated perch.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

I always look forward to the return of our Western Willets. I’ve been hearing their distinctive calls from far off for a couple of weeks now but until five days ago when I found this bird in northern Utah’s high desert I’d never been able to get close enough for photographs.<\/p>\n

He was perched on top of a rocky outcrop in an isolated area of Box Elder County. This time of year this outcrop has actually been a fairly reliable perch for Willets for several years now. They find an elevated perch like this one and often return to it regularly even though it isn’t particularly close to their typical watery habitat. But that only lasts for a week or two and then I don’t see them there again for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

This bird was calling its typical “pill-will-willet<\/em>” call. It’s a loud, piercing call that the typical human observer doesn’t soon forget.<\/p>\n

Later that same morning I was lucky enough to photograph the mating Red-tailed Hawks<\/a><\/span><\/span> that I posted recently so the following morning I returned to the same area to see if I could relocate the hawks.<\/p>\n

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1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

I struck out on the red-tails but I did find the Willet on the same rocky outcrop at the same time of morning I’d photographed him the day before. This time he was on a different point of rock on the outcrop so for complicated reasons I couldn’t get anything but blue sky in the background and he was more side lit.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

I did manage to get a few flight shots when he took off.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

None of them were great photos but I was able to get light in his eye and a reasonably good look at his boldly marked wings.<\/p>\n

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Cell phone photo<\/em><\/p>\n

The breeding habitat of our Western Willets is markedly different than that of the Eastern Willets that many of my readers are probably more familiar with. This is the rocky outcrop I found “my willet” calling from on both mornings. This photo was taken on the second morning just before I took the flight shots posted above. Sharp eyes should be able to spot him just to the left of the highest rocky peak in the outcrop.<\/p>\n

Because of their plain drab colors (before they raise their boldly marked wings) Willets often don’t get the attention and respect I think they deserve.<\/p>\n

But I always look forward to their return as a sure sign of spring.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Note: Willets have evolved into two distinct populations, Western and Eastern, in part because of their very different breeding environments. This from Cornell’s Birds of the World:<\/p>\n