This looks like a prairie willet to me, most likely a male. Prairie can be this dark. The bill has a lighter bluish not pinkish base which is good for Prairie. And it evenly reduces to the tip with both upper and lower bill the same depth and looks smooth. Saltmarsh often has a rough looking bill with the mandible thicker than the upper bill and often with a slight convex appearance about. Halfway down. The bill is pretty variable in Prairie from thin to like this bird; the length between the sexes adds to this appearance. As far as size goes there is a greater variation within Prairie size than the average 105 between prairie and Saltmarsh. Along the northern gulf some individuals can be difficult to separate, one of the reasons Willet has failed to be split a couple of times in the past.
On Oct 28, 2026, at 11:26 PM, Dave DeReamus <becard...> wrote:
Hi,
Now that eBird has split the Willet into Prairie Willet and Saltmarsh Willet, it has created an interesting situation with a bird that Billy Weber and Matt Sabatine found during bad weather in my Pennsylvania county (Northampton) back in 2016. I was lucky to get down there and see the bird and took some fairly good photos of it. At that time, I thought that it was a good candidate for "Eastern" Willet, which would now become a Saltmarsh Willet. My original checklist is at: [ https://ebird.org/checklist/S66693054 | https://ebird.org/checklist/S66693054 ]
This very dark and heavily-marked bird had a short, thick bill with a lighter base, appeared to have shorter legs and a short neck compared to the paler, less barred Prairie Willet, which would have a longer, more upturned bill and would appear taller and much longer-necked than this bird.
I'm guessing that eBird has automatically identified the bird as a Prairie Willet due to location and not by analyzing the individual photos? I'm not sure if there has ever been an accepted record of "Eastern" Willet (now Saltmarsh Willet) in Pennsylvania, so I am curious what the "experts" think about this bird. I'd appreciate any analysis on this.
