Willet Gray
Wading in winter’s gray
Somber plumage
Mirrored on shore
“Pill-pill-willet”
Echoed on shore
Again “Pill-pill-willet”
Waiting on summer’s days
*One of the largest of shorebirds, clothed here in winter feathers, with a striking black and white winged pattern seen mostly in flight. Marketing “tasty eggs” (John James Audubon) nearly decimated the species till the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act helped the Willet’s return.