Mystery Bird: Western Willet, Tringa semipalmata

Will it be a trick question? (see what I did there). Yellow extending from the feet up the rear of the legs means it's a Snowy Egret.

Regarding the foreground bird, Dennis Paulson claims that subspecies ID is questionable. O'Brien, Crossley and Karlson claim that it is quite possible, based mostly on structural features, as well as migration and molt timing.
But we'll worry about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, I agree with Adrian: the bird in the back is a Snowy Egret.

The bird has not yet completed its moult as it is showing the remains of barring on the flanks and side of the breast.
As my "shorebirds" book may be out of date now, doesn't this make it "semipalmatus", which is stated as being distinct in breeding plumage.

Foreground: T. semipalmata, background: E. thula.

hmmm, Willet or won't it...?

Yellowlegs are smaller and slimmer, with much more slender bills and yellow legs, and Godwits have much longer, thinner, upturned bills with a pink base and dark tip.

Patuxent describes the "adult basic" (as opposed to "alternate") Willet as: pale gray-brown head, neck, back, upperwings and breast; pale area above darker lores; white belly...

Mark O'Brien, in the May/June 2006 issue of Birding contrasts virtually identical examples of both subspecies of Willet and notes: "Note the Easternâs slimmer body, darker, browner overall coloration,and heavier, paler-based bill. Note also that although both populations show a buffy ground color to the breast, that of the Western contrasts with its more neutral gray upperparts. Gulf Coast Eastern Willets average subtly larger, longer-billed, and paler than Atlantic Coast breeders"...

Presumably if in Galveston, the bird in the photo above is from the Gulf Coast saltmarsh population, therefore the Gulf Coast Eastern Willet, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus semipalmatus.

Michael O'Brien, "Subspecific Identification of the Willet, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus", Birding, May/June 2006

http://www.aba.org/birding/v38n3p40.pdf

oh, and because the yellow line runs down the back of the legs, the bird in the background is a juvenile Snowy Egret...

Thanks for the link David, very interesting. I'll have to update my US literature.

No problem Adrian, personally I suspect that with further research there is a strong liklihood that this "species" (as with myriad others) will turn out to be two or three distinct species because we seem to have trouble fully comprehending concepts such as convergent evolution, tending more towards morphology first (i.e. look at the evolution of sunbirds, spiderhunters, hummingbirds, honeyeaters)- moving away from the Biological Species Concept (Ernst Mayr, etc.) towards phylogenetic or ecological niche interpretations...

Definitely a Willett, but I think it's the western race, inornata. The bill looks very straight and finely tipped, rather than the heavy, slightly drooped look of an Eastern. Also, the tertials appear to be freshly molted. Eastern Willetts apparently molt their flight feathers after migration.

The location isn't a problem for Western. They regularly winter on the E and Gulf coasts. In fact, it appears that most Eastern birds leave the country completely, with only stragglers left by early September.

Not sure psweet- if you take a look at the link I posted above in comment #6 and try to guess the subspecies on each photo, it is virtually impossible to get it 100% correct- only by comparison of relative bill length, the curve of the back, paleness in the bill can one make the distinction, assuming it is not mid-moult or immature!

Then there is apparently a significant percentage of each subspecies that is considered "intermediate" and Gulf Coast Easterns are comparable in size and build to Westerns, with Atlantic Easterns slightly smaller...

I also understand that although the ranges do overlap that Easterns migrate primarily along coastlines while Westerns migrate along the Mississippi River and over other inland areas.