Tringa semipalmata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The willet (Tringa semipalmata) is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa. Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage. It breeds in North America and the West Indies and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.
The willet was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Scolopax and coined the binomial name Scolopax semipalmata. Gmelin based his description on the "semipalmated snipe" from New York that had been described in 1785 by both the English ornithologist John Latham and by the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. The willet was formerly assigned to the genus Catoptrophorus that had been introduced for the species in 1827 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte. In 2006 it was moved to the current genus Tringa based on a molecular... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 9 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Aquarium of the Pacific | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Monterey Bay Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Willet sighting in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, based on 276 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 82nd most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Willet in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, against about 10% in June–August and October–December, the lowest months. That is one of Ciénaga de Zapata's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain against 150 mm in June. September has too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Willet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Willet sightings, Ciénaga de Zapata ranks 11th at about 20%. The best odds are in Padre Island National Seashore (United States, about 90%), Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 60%) and El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Tringa
The closest relatives of the Willet that you can see in Ciénaga de Zapata (genus Tringa, Shanks, Tattlers, and Allies) are Greater Yellowlegs (about 30%) and Lesser Yellowlegs (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Willet is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciénaga de Zapata (276 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
