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My first Eastern ssp. Willet? Plum Island, MA, USA (1 Viewer)

TKbird

Well-known member
Hello,

I've never tried to learn Willet subspecies, but finally decided now is the time. This is my first attempt. Is this an Eastern Willet?

Thank you!
 

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My reading is that you'll need a better photo that this, I'm afraid. But, given that this is in NE USA, it would be (I expect!) as good as certainly eastern.
 
My reading is that you'll need a better photo that this, I'm afraid. But, given that this is in NE USA, it would be (I expect!) as good as certainly eastern.
According to Cornell, western Willets are seen regularly on the east coast during fall migration. In fact, per eBird there have been quite a few records of Western Willet on the east coast this month.
 
According to Cornell, western Willets are seen regularly on the east coast during fall migration. In fact, per eBird there have been quite a few records of Western Willet on the east coast this month.
That sounds like the chances of one random photo taken of one willet on the northern part of the east coast in August being a western willet.are - well - pretty jolly low.
There are a few times as many Easterns as Westerns on the NE coast, but the ssp. names are somewhat misleading. Dozens of Westerns have been reported on the MA coast alone in the last couple of weeks, although they're more common around the Cape.
 
That sounds like the chances of one random photo taken of one willet on the northern part of the east coast in August being a western willet.are - well - pretty jolly low.
Good point but I am sure you will agree that A good way to learn subspecies is as a learning exercise to completely disregard place of sighting and attempt to identify purely on morphological features
 
Over 50% then. Thanks for clarifying.
On Plum Island only Western flags as rare on eBird right now, so Eastern is certainly the expected ssp. at present. Westerns are mainly here in September, when I believe there are indeed more Westerns than Easterns! I wish eBird would show bar charts for subspecies though... I guess we'll just have to wait until Willet is split.
 
I guess we'll just have to wait until Willet is split.
...and then there'll be misidentifications everywhere! (given that no-one's managed to identify this one yet - and I actually don't know how you would, unless it was stood in the middle of a flock of the other form and looking obviously different from them).
 
...and then there'll be misidentifications everywhere! (given that no-one's managed to identify this one yet - and I actually don't know how you would, unless it was stood in the middle of a flock of the other form and looking obviously different from them).
Yes, I'm sure you're right. I look forward to more guides on distinguishing them!

Looking at Macaulay Library, the dark-winged plumage with contrasting speckles appears to be distinctive to Eastern:
While the Westerns are sometimes speckled, the overall plain gray appearance is maintained. Of course, going off the library is risky because there could be wrong IDs or birds that aren't ID-able to ssp. However, Sibley includes full entries on both subspecies, and the Western is indeed always more uniform than some Easterns (including, I think, the one I photo'd).
 
Western is indeed always more uniform than some Easterns
This is not my reading of Sibley. You need to take account of whether an individual bird is a juvenile or not (juvenile western seems to be very not-uniform). Full breeding plumage is not a problem for ID, but then you also have to decide if an individual is in full breeding plumage: thus, whether a partial-breeding-plumage-looking bird is in fact either a partial-breeding-plumage eastern or a full-breeding-plumage western. Or you could just think that splitting them is silly...
 
This is not my reading of Sibley. You need to take account of whether an individual bird is a juvenile or not (juvenile western seems to be very not-uniform). Full breeding plumage is not a problem for ID, but then you also have to decide if an individual is in full breeding plumage: thus, whether a partial-breeding-plumage-looking bird is in fact either a partial-breeding-plumage eastern or a full-breeding-plumage western.
My claim is only that some Easterns (including but not limited to full breeding birds) are more contrasting/less uniform than all Westerns. As best I can judge my bird falls into this category.
Or you could just think that splitting them is silly...
This is a preemptive strike on my part in anticipation of Willet being split into two species.
 
If I read Sibley aright, I'd say that the most contrasting eastern willet plumage is adult breeding - and I'd say yours (on both upperpart- and underpart-patterns) is most likely a juvenile.
It's an often-forgotten fact that we all retain the option of ignoring splits. They're not law.
 
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