Sandpiper practice

The autumn shorebird migration is off to an early start in western Oregon.

We visited Jackson Bottom Wetlands yesterday to try our hand at identifying Western, Least, and Semipalmated Sandpipers, three similar species collectively known as "peeps".

We checked a near-empty retaining pond and found all three, including the Least Sandpiper pictured above. The other two species were relatively easy to identify in their breeding plumage, but too far for photos.
 

In another pond, we found several dowitchers, probably the long-billed variety, probing the muck in typical sewing machine fashion.

A couple of species were nesting in and near the marsh. A Pied-billed Grebe sat on its nest

and a Tree Swallow nestling chirped for its next meal.

The wetlands were much busier than we thought they would be in mid-summer. We'll be back!