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Willet with prey

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". Willets are flexible in their feeding habits and hunt by walking steadily and pecking prey from the substrate, although they also probe into the mud or silt with their sensitive bill and may actively stalk larger prey in shallow water. A favored prey on the coasts is small fiddler crabs as well as mole crabs, worms, clams and other invertebrates.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willet

 

Hippoids (mole crabs) are adapted to burrowing into sandy beaches, a habit they share with raninid crabs.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippoidea

 

Tringa semipalmata with mole crab. North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. USA

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Uploaded on August 29, 2024
Taken on August 29, 2018