Date: 10/29/26 6:53 pm From: Robert O'Brien via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] The Two Willets
I'm sure that it was complex and confusing trying to distribute the 2 new
species into correct ranges when previously they were not distinguished,
i.e. lumped. Quite a few past reports were NOT identified as to species.
the '/' indication.
But what resulted is rather puzzling.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/159695762@N07/55620649913/in/dateposted-public/ No Saltmarsh Willets are accepted in the entire west coast SaltMarshes
(?). And yet, many were accepted as not speciated in our western
Saltmarshes.. (Yet?)
I grew up (if at all) on south San Francisco Bay where Willets are abundant
but do not(? breed, moving inland. That would be the place for study (if
at all}.
In Oregon and Washington Willets are rather uncommon.coastally, also
breeding inland.
So, a really challenging and fun(?) exercise would be to start
identifying them by species, rather than location.
Bob OBrien Portland
On Thu, Oct 29, 2026 at 2:43 PM Diane Yorgason-Quinn via Tweeters <
<tweeters...> wrote:
> I was looking at an October list in Ohio, and they showed Prairie Willets
> in Ohio! Photos were included. I wondered about that and was told that
> Prairies are "lankier" such as was shown in the photos. I still have my
> doubts and need to study it some more.
>
> Diane Yorgason-Quinn (of the Willettes birding group)
> <avosetta...>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Tweeters <tweeters-bounces...> on behalf
> of Jerry Tangren via Tweeters <tweeters...>
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 29, 2026 12:05 PM
> *To:* Carol Riddell <cariddellwa...>; tweeters <
> <tweeters...>
> *Subject:* Re: [Tweeters] The Two Willets
>
> Good points! We shouldn’t think about the Willet split in the same
> geographical way as we do the Marsh Wren.
>
> Fortunately, for my list, we had listed Willets during May in the
> Scarborough Marsh in Maine, and eBird changed them to Saltmarsh Willet.
>
> —Jerry Tangren
> East Wenatchee, WA
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef> > ------------------------------
> *From:* Tweeters <tweeters-bounces...> on behalf
> of Carol Riddell via Tweeters <tweeters...>
> *Sent:* Thursday, 29 October 2026 11:09:10
> *To:* tweeters <tweeters...>
> *Subject:* [Tweeters] The Two Willets
>
> Hi Tweeters,
>
> I just noticed this morning that eBird has updated checklists and our
> species numbers to reflect the split in Willet to Saltmarsh Willet and
> Prairie Willet. Prairie is the former western subspecies and Saltmarsh is
> the former eastern subspecies. I noticed many Saltmarsh/Prairie Willet in
> my checklists so I made a couple of species maps to see what is going on.
> It is interesting to see extensive documentation of Prairie Willet all
> along the Gulf Coast and the East Coast, at least up through Virginia. One
> of my checklists had a Willet photo on the west coast of Florida and it is
> now in the Prairie Willet category. The range for Saltmarsh Willet is much
> more restrictive than that for Prairie Willet.
>
> The Marsh Wren split to Eastern Marsh Wren and Western Marsh Wren is also
> seen in eBird checklists now but I have not made species maps to see where
> they might overlap.
>
> Good birding,
>
> Carol Riddell
> Edmonds, WA
> cariddellwa at gmail dot com
>
>
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