Eastern Willet

The Eastern Willet pictured above was spotted at Heckscher State Park a couple of weeks ago. Willets are fairly common shorebirds, but back in the 1800s this wasn't the case. In the book A Natural History of American Birds of Eastern and Central North America by Edward Howe Forbush, the following explanation is given: "The Eastern Willet, a great, strikingly marked shore bird, has been gradually reduced in numbers until it has become one of the rarest shore birds on the North Atlantic coast...The Eastern Willet was not considered a very edible fowl, but its eggs were highly prized for the table." Fortunately, the practice of robbing the nests of these birds has long ceased,  allowing them to make a great comeback.