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Willets


Outer Banks has a variety of sandpipers in migration and winter--32 of them on the official checklist--but as far as breeders, it has just one: the Willet. It's a medium-ish sandpiper, about the size of a grackle on stilts. I've been familiar with them since I was a girl, though I didn't know them by name until I became a birder. We often see them on evening walks down the beach. They stride back and forth at the edge of the surf, looking for tidbits.


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Willets also forage in the shallows of the sound, where they can be hard to distinguish from other medium-sized sandpipers. (And yes, even in July, there are other sandpipers: for this class of birds, fall migration begins very early.) As soon as one takes flight, though, there's no doubt. The striking black-and-white banded wings are unique to this species.






Herons and IbisesA present-day interlude