This tiny sandpiper is the rarest of the regularly occurring "peeps" in Oregon. Only a handful of individuals are reported in Oregon each year, mostly during fall migration and usually in mixed flocks with Least and Western Sandpipers.

Like the Western sandpiper, the Semipalmated has black legs, but its bill is generally shorter, straighter and more blunt. Well-known as a transoceanic migrant, the Semipalmated sandpiper may be one of the fastest flying of the long-distance shorebirds.

It is a rare irregular spring transient throughout Oregon, and a very uncommon coastal and rare inland fall transient. It is usually found inside coastal bays along intertidal sand or mud flats, and occasionally on exposed ocean beaches; also found at the borders of grassy marsh and tidal flats.

Hear the call of the Semipalmated sandpiper

Photo by Andrew Cannizzaro, Flickr