Willet at Sunrise

While we were at Bowdoin NWR in Montana we saw a few different shore birds including willets. There are two different populations of willets in North America. The western population breeds in fresh water habits, such as Montana, and winters on the Pacific Coast. The eastern population is slightly smaller and breeds in salt water habitats along the Atlantic Coast. This is an example of an eastern willet that I photographed on the gulf coast of Texas last year.