On the ground WILLETS could be mistaken for Yellowlegs, but they present a color pattern of black and white that is distinctly their own. During Spring migration they sometimes come to shore only for food and I have seen small flocks resting on the ocean in some off-shore cruises.
Members of a nesting colony are extremely noisy, filling the air with loud yip-yip-yips or the penetrating pill-will-willet cries, from bush or tree perch. Parents have been observed carrying young between their thighs to a safe location when the birds thot they were in danger.
When Spring shooting was considered quite the proper pastime, Willets were slaughtered and eggs collected by market gunners. After the birds had run the gauntlet of coast sportsmen, they became extremely wary and I never succeeded in approaching Florida birds nearer than two hundred yards.
Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. Numbers winter in southern part of its range.