PORTLAND (AP) — Bird watchers flocked to Eugene last weekend to catch a glimpse of the wood sandpiper, a bird rarely seen in the continental U.S.

John Sullivan, 43, spotted the bird Sept. 26 and couldn’t wait to share his excitement online. But what if he was mistaken?

“I was worried this e-mail would go out and people would flock here from far and wide and find this funny-looking common Sandpiper,” he said.

The birder bided his time. He made return trips, snapped photographs and did a lot of reading. Finally, he was certain of what he saw.

“I stayed up all night before I posted. I couldn’t sleep. I just wanted to make sure this was really it,” he said.

He finally posted at 5 a.m.

Bird watchers jammed his inbox with replies and soon clogged the parking lot at Fern Ridge Lake.

A native to Northern Europe and Asia, the wood sandpiper winters in South Asia and Africa.

“It’s flying south for the winter, and for whatever reason, this one went the wrong way,” said Dan Heyerly, who helped organize efforts to prepare for the hundreds of visitors, some of whom arrived from as far away as Tennessee.

The bird almost didn’t cooperate.

“We just couldn’t find anything until about 2:30 p.m., when this guy started pumping his umbrella up and down and waving his arms,” Sullivan said. “There was just this massive stampede of people rushing to get on the bird.”

The crowd dwindled by Sunday afternoon and on Monday, the area was temporarily closed to the public. Heyerly said the reservoir will reopen Oct. 10, and thinks there is a slim chance the bird will still be here.

Even if the bird never shows its beak again, Sullivan said he won’t forget its stay. “I’ve been birding almost 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”