19 | August | 2011 | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

Willet. (Tringa semipalmata). There are two species of this shorebird. The Eastern Willet and the Western Willet. These photos of course, are of the Western species. They are larger and more stockier than the greater Yellowlegs. And of course, they have gray legs. They prefer to stay around wet prairies and fields.

I am into birding as much as I am into photography. These photos may not be as esthetic as I may like them to be, but they do represent what a Willet is supposed to look like. They were both taken when we made our trip to the water treatment ponds at Eldorado on Wednesday. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get as close to him as I did.

As I am want to do, when photographing birds, I make sure that I can stop the action if necessary. Shorebirds, sandpipers, and others are always on the move, feeding and bobbing around. So I opted to shoot in shutter priority, which doesn’t always provide the depth of field, or the larger apertures that I sometimes like. You know, the larger openings that would provide me a more blurred background. But having said that, the rocky background probably was to close to the bird to make much difference anyway. I was shooting at f6.3 and I could only go to f5.6 with my set-up. But, nevertheless, I think you will enjoy these images.

The photo EXIF data is the same for each one. You may click on either image to see an enlargement.