Tringa semipalmata
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Willet sighting in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 185th most-seen of the 223 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Willet in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
41st of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Willet sightings, Rocky Mountain National Park ranks 41st at under 5%. 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.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Willet is recorded against all the birds logged in Rocky Mountain National Park (14 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.
