{"id":8217,"date":"2013-04-27T03:45:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T09:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8217"},"modified":"2025-11-11T14:35:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T20:35:39","slug":"the-willets-and-biting-gnats-are-back-on-antelope-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/27\/the-willets-and-biting-gnats-are-back-on-antelope-island\/","title":{"rendered":"The Willets And Biting Gnats Are Back On Antelope Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Willets are moving into their nesting territory on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> and I am excited about that.<\/p>\n

\"WilletWestern Willet lifting off near White Rock Bay – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

What I am not excited about is that the biting gnats (no-see-ums) are back too. I love to hear the Willets calling either from their perches or when they are in flight. This Willet had just lifted off from a sagebrush where it had been calling. I did clone a bit of the very top of the sagebrush out at the lower right portion of this frame.<\/p>\n

\"WilletWillet – All fluffed up – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 328mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Further south on the island this Willet was on the ground where it had most likely been foraging and it stopped to shake its feathers and fluff them up.<\/p>\n

\"SpringtimeSpringtime Willet on alert – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 328mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then it moved a bit closer to the vehicle and stood at alert. I think the tiny pink flowers add to the last two images.<\/p>\n

The biting gnats… The nasty buggers\u00a0will be trying to suck the blood out of me for at least the next six weeks every time I go to the island but I am not going to let them stop me from photographing the wonderful birds and great wildlife I see there.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Willet photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Willets are moving into their nesting territory on Antelope Island State Park and I am excited about that. What I am not excited about is that the biting gnats (no-see-ums) are back too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,26,308],"tags":[4004,4540,514,4052,4309,4122,4057,992,274,4168,11478,4047,4748],"class_list":["post-8217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-willets","tag-adult","tag-alert","tag-biting-gnats","tag-flight","tag-fluffed-up","tag-flying","tag-sagebrush","tag-sandpipers","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-tringa-semipalmata","tag-tringa-semipalmata-inornata","tag-willet","tag-willets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/willet-flight-mia-mcpherson-9650.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-28x","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57370,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/21\/photographing-a-calling-willet-on-a-rocky-hillside\/","url_meta":{"origin":8217,"position":0},"title":"Photographing A Calling Willet On A Rocky Hillside","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a pleasure for me to see and photograph a Willet two days ago on Antelope Island State Park and this Willet even started calling which made it even more of a pleasure for me.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calling Willet on a rocky hillside, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-calling-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-2081.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-calling-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-2081.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-calling-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-2081.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-calling-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-2081.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138985,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/27\/willet-and-the-gulf-of-mexico\/","url_meta":{"origin":8217,"position":1},"title":"Willet And The Gulf Of Mexico","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I dug way back into my archives for this photo of a Willet with waves rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico, taken in 2008 at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Florida"","block_context":{"text":"Florida","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/florida\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willet with waves coming in from the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/willet-gulf-of-mexico-mia-mcpherson-8966.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/willet-gulf-of-mexico-mia-mcpherson-8966.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/willet-gulf-of-mexico-mia-mcpherson-8966.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/willet-gulf-of-mexico-mia-mcpherson-8966.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57053,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/03\/i-swear-i-heard-a-willet-calling-two-days-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":8217,"position":2},"title":"I Swear I Heard A Willet Calling Two Days Ago","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"While looking for Sage Thrashers to photograph on Antelope Island two days ago I swear I heard a Willet call. It was just one distant call but my ears perked up right away.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert Western Willet on a white rock, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-alert-white-rock-mia-mcpherson-9483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-alert-white-rock-mia-mcpherson-9483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/willet-alert-white-rock-mia-mcpherson-9483.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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