{"id":8452,"date":"2013-05-28T05:36:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T11:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8452"},"modified":"2025-03-04T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T13:00:00","slug":"eastern-willet-in-flight-at-fort-de-soto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/28\/eastern-willet-in-flight-at-fort-de-soto\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Willet in flight at Fort De Soto"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two subspecies of Willets which Western and Eastern. Here in Utah I only see the Western subspecies but in Florida I could see both during the course of a year. This Willet is the Eastern subspecies that I photographed at Fort De Soto’s north beach<\/span><\/a> in 2009.<\/p>\n

\"EasternEastern Willet in flight – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 330mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Willet flew in so close to me that I had to back up my zoom so I wouldn’t clip any of the bird. I had been photographing a static shorebird when I noticed the Willet flying in and I didn’t have time to change my settings.<\/p>\n

I would have increased my ISO some and changed my aperture to f6.3 to get a faster shutter speed if there had been time but since the Willet was gliding in I had just enough shutter speed to freeze the action.<\/p>\n

The reflection from the white sand below the bird helped to light up the underside of the shorebird’s wings.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

There are two subspecies of Willets which Western and Eastern, here in Utah I only see the Western subspecies but in Florida I could see both during the course of a year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141169,"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":[27,25,704,2000,308],"tags":[4004,4039,5229,5132,5348,4052,4122,4077,3521,274,4018,4168,11477,4047,4748],"class_list":["post-8452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-willets","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-eastern-willet","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-sandpiper","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-sky","tag-tringa-semipalmata","tag-tringa-semipalmata-semipalmata","tag-willet","tag-willets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/willet-eastern-flying-gulf-mia-mcpherson-4377.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2ck","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6294,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/07\/eastern-and-western-willets-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":8452,"position":0},"title":"Eastern And Western Willets In Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had the good fortune to photograph both the eastern and western Willets in breeding plumage, the eastern in Florida and the western in Utah and Montana.","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":"Eastern Willet in breeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-eastern-breeding-mia-mcpherson-7007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-eastern-breeding-mia-mcpherson-7007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-eastern-breeding-mia-mcpherson-7007.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-eastern-breeding-mia-mcpherson-7007.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/21\/possible-eastern-and-western-willet-split-in-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":8452,"position":1},"title":"Possible Eastern and Western Willet Split in 2017","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The question regarding this proposal is... Willet happen?","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":"Eastern Willet in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/willet-eastern-flying-gulf-mia-mcpherson-4377.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/willet-eastern-flying-gulf-mia-mcpherson-4377.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/willet-eastern-flying-gulf-mia-mcpherson-4377.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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, 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Willets","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-no-split-mia-mcpherson-6077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-no-split-mia-mcpherson-6077.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-no-split-mia-mcpherson-6077.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/willet-no-split-mia-mcpherson-6077.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25089,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/06\/06\/western-willets-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":8452,"position":5},"title":"Western Willets on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There are two subspecies of Willets in 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