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bird sightings

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    This Week’s Bird Sightings

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    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, May 10 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Semipalmated Sandpipers (and other wading birds) have semi-webbed feet. They’re small — only about the size of a sparrow — but feisty. (Photo by Jonathan Eckerson, Macaulay Library/Cornell)

    Sightings at Race Point in Provincetown included a Pacific Loon, 3 Parasitic Jaegers, a Glaucous Gull, and Iceland Gull, a Lesser Black-Backed Gull, and 3 Black Terns. There were also 4 Ring-Necked Ducks at Beech Forest.

    There was a Hooded Warbler in Truro this week.

    Sightings at Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary this week included 2 Blue-Winged Teal, 14 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 25 Purple Martins, a White-Eyed Vireo, and a Yellow-Breasted Chat. Elsewhere in Wellfleet, bird watchers saw 2 Caspian Terns, a Snowy Owl and a White-Rumped Sandpiper.

    Nobody reported in from Eastham, but there was one bird reported on neighboring Nauset Beach in Orleans. It was a Blue Grosbeak.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

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    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, May 3 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Adult male Orchard Orioles are chestnut brown and black. (Photo by Bryan Calk, Macaulay Library/Cornell)

    A single Sandhill Crane was seen in Provincetown this week. Likewise, a single Caspian Tern was seen at Race Point. Black Vultures were also reported in town; we don’t know how many.

    Other sightings at Race Point included up to 4 Pacific Loons, 2 Common Murres, 14 Razorbills, 14 Common Terns, 5 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 2 Iceland Gulls, 110 Red-Throated Loons, 92 Common Loons, and 42 Northern Gannets.

    Somebody saw a Snowy Owl in Wellfleet.

    The folks at the Audubon mention a number of “new arrivals” this week on the Cape. Be on the lookout for Gray Catbirds, Eastern Kingbirds, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, increasing numbers of Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, and Common Terns.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

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    This Week’s Bird Sightings

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    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, April 19 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    A remarkable fallout of migrant songbirds grounded by fog started on Thursday, causing hundreds of Hermit Thrushes, Golden-Crowned and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Northern Flickers, and Palm Warblers to land on fishing boats and Outer Cape beaches. Many, especially the flickers, didn’t make it and were found dead on beaches over the following days.

    White Ibises forage in wetlands, but more often in Southern mangroves than in Cape Cod salt marshes. They nest in colonies in trees and shrubs near the water. (Photo by Lindsay Addison/Audubon, N.C.)

    Some of these migrants were tallied at the Beech Forest in Provincetown on the days after the fog cleared, including 220 Golden-Crowned Kinglets, 44 Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, 23 Brown Creepers, 66 Hermit Thrushes, and 36 Palm Warblers. Other birds seen included an early Magnolia Warbler and a White-Eyed Vireo.

    A Swallow-Tailed Kite was seen in North Truro on Saturday.

    A White Ibis and an Indigo Bunting continued at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay sanctuary this week.

    There was also a Clapper Rail in Wellfleet.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, April 12 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Gnatcatchers are solitary birds that build tiny cup-nests lined with down and spider webs and then camouflaged with bits of lichen. (Photo by Alan Vernon/U.S. National Park Service)

    Birds at Race Point in Provincetown this week included 2 Black Vultures, 2 Pacific Loons, 130 Red-Throated Loons, a Manx Shearwater, 11 Common Murres, 62 Razorbills, 9 Iceland Gulls, and a Merlin.

    It seems that nobody saw any birds worth dropping a dime on in Truro this week.

    A White Ibis and a White-Eyed Vireo were seen at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay sanctuary on April 11 and an early Indigo Bunting was seen on the 10th.

    There were Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, exact numbers unknown, reported in Eastham.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, April 5 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    In this photo, a wildlife biologist and raptor rehabilitation specialist handles a Merlin. These birds are small, fierce falcons, say the people at Cornell’s Bird Lab. (Photo by Tanya Flores/USDA Forest Service)

    Birds at Race Point in Provincetown this week included 2 Pacific Loons, 3 Common Murres, a Black Guillemot, 50 Razorbills, 6 Great Cormorants. a Merlin, a Snowy Owl, and an American Pipit.

    There was a Little Blue Heron at High Head in North Truro this week.

    In Eastham, someone spotted a Marsh Wren. Meanwhile, across the border at Nauset Beach in Orleans there were a Pectoral Sandpiper, a Short-Billed Dowitcher, a Short-Eared Owl, 4 Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, an American Kestrel, a Barn Swallow, 6 Purple Finches, 4 Fox Sparrows, a Nelson’s Sparrow, 3 Saltmarsh Sparrows, a Vesper Sparrow, 4 Ipswich Savannah Sparrows, and 2 Eastern Meadowlarks.

    A Red Crossbill was seen in Wellfleet.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

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    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, March 29 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    A Saltmarsh Sparrow perched in cordgrass. These birds are losing their habitat to rising tides. Saltmarsh restorations that ward off coastal flooding may help, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Photo courtesy USFWS)

    The first reports of Tree Swallows, Snowy Egrets, American Oystercatchers, and Laughing Gulls came in from points around the Cape this week.

    Bird sightings at Race Point in Provincetown included a Caspian Tern, 2 Pacific Loons, a Dovekie, 11 Common Murres, 285 Razorbills, 2 Glaucous Gulls, 24 Iceland Gulls, and 325 Red-Throated Loons.

    There was a Saltmarsh Sparrow in Eastham.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

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    This Week’s Bird Sightings

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    The National Park Service’s description of the Short-Eared Owl refers to ornithologist Paul Johnsgard’s assessment of these birds’ physiques: “The heads of owls are basically little more than brains with raptorial beaks and the largest possible eyes and ears attached.” (Photo Jim Livaudais/NPS)

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, March 22 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Birds at Race Point in Provincetown this week included 2 Pacific Loons, 8 Common Murres, 3 Thick-Billed Murres, 300 Razorbills, a Glaucous Gull, and 24 Iceland Gulls.

    Elsewhere in Provincetown, 7 Semipalmated Plovers were seen.

    There was a Short-Eared Owl in Wellfleet.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, March 15 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Red-Throated Loons have the ability to spring into flight without first pattering on the water (as other loons have to do), according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This trick permits them to use small ponds for nesting. (Photo courtesy USFWS)

    Birds at Race Point in Provincetown this week included 3 Pacific Loons, 5 Dovekies, 10 Common Murres, 5 Thick-Billed Murres, 700 Razorbills, a Glaucous Gull, 50 Iceland Gulls, and 150 Red-Throated Loons.

    There was a Short-Eared Owl in Wellfleet.

    Nobody in Truro or Eastham saw a single bird this week, apparently.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

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    “The conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote that the woodcock’s mesmerizing sky dances were ‘a refutation of the theory that the utility of a game bird is to serve as a target, or to pose gracefully on a slice of toast,’ ” according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Those “sky dances” are about the search for a mate, in which the male woodcock makes what the folks at Cornell say is “a buzzy peent call, given from the ground,” interspersed with “spiraling display flights,” that include musical chirping and a twittering wing noise. (Photo by Louis Brodeur, Macaulay Library/Cornell)

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, March 8 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    American Woodcocks have been displaying and were observed at High Head in Truro and at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, as well as at points up Cape.

    Snowy Owl sightings this week included two at North Beach in Orleans and one at First Encounter Beach in Eastham.

    There was a Peregrine Falcon at MacMillan Wharf in Provincetown.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, March 1 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Birds at Race Point in Provincetown included 2 Pacific Loons, a Dovekie, 31 Common Murres, 2 Thick-Billed Murres, 1353 Razorbills, a Black Guillemot, 61 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, 18 Iceland Gulls, a Glaucous Gull, a Lesser Black-Backed Gull, a Merlin, and 4 Common Ravens. Also, 3 Thick-Billed Murres were seen in Provincetown Harbor.

    A Purple Finch, puffed up against the cold. (Photo by Andrew Cannizzaro)

    An American Bittern, a Blue-Winged Teal, and 5 Purple Finches were at High Head in Truro this week.

    Nobody saw anything in Wellfleet.

    There was a Snowy Owl in Eastham.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 8 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Clapper Rails like this light-footed one make a “clattering cackle,” according to the National Audubon Society’s website. Rails were abundant when their habitat, the salt marshes and tidal creeks of the Atlantic Coast, were intact. (Photo by Andrew Fisher/USFWS)

    Birds at Race Point in Provincetown included 2 Pacific Loons, 4 Thick-Billed Murres, a Black Guillemot, 240 Razorbills, and a Snowy Owl. There were also 3 Thick-Billed Murres spotted in Provincetown Harbor this week.

    Western Tanagers were reported visiting feeders in Truro this week.

    Sightings from the Herring River to Great Island in Wellfleet included a Short-Eared Owl, a Clapper Rail, a Red Knot, 30 Ruddy Turnstones, and a Brown Thrasher.

    As for the bird watchers in Eastham, this week they didn’t call, they didn’t write.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 1 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    The Snow Goose is a white-bodied goose with black wingtips that are barely visible on the ground but noticeable in flight. The pink bill has a dark line along it, often called a “grinning patch,” so say the people at the Cornell Bird Lab. (Photo by Manjith Kainickara)

    The nor’easter blizzard blew a few seabirds into Cape Cod Bay on Saturday, and birders at First Encounter Beach in Eastham tallied a Pomarine Jaeger, 3 Atlantic Puffins, 13 Dovekies, 12 Thick-Billed Murres, an Iceland Gull, and 85 Black-Legged Kittiwakes.

    Western Tanagers have been seen visiting feeders in both Eastham and Truro this week.

    There were 5 Snow Geese sighted in Wellfleet.

    3 Thick-Billed Murres were seen in Provincetown Harbor.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 25 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Juvenile Red-Necked Grebes in conversation. (Photo by Brian Sullivan, Macauley Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

    At Race Point in Provincetown sightings this week included 2 Pacific Loons, 6 Red-Necked Grebes, 4 Thick-Billed Murres, 13 Common Murres, 21 Dovekies, 1,500 Razorbills, 17 Iceland Gulls, a Glaucous Gull, 52 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, and a Snowy Owl.

    Baltimore Orioles were in Wellfleet and Eastham this week.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 11 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    How do you tell a Pomarine Jaeger from a gull? Look for a seabird that’s more barrel-chested, with broad wings and a thick bill. (Photo Ian Davies, Macauley Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

    The Bell’s Vireo? It’s still at Fort Hill in Eastham.

    Also seen in town were 5 Pomarine Jaegers.

    A Great Egret was sighted in North Truro.

    At Race Point in Provincetown, sightings this week included an Atlantic Puffin, 5 Dovekies, 3 Common Murres, a Thick-Billed Murre, and 4 Iceland Gulls.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 4 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    The same old Bell’s Vireo continued at Fort Hill in Eastham this week.

    Look for brown bar markings on a Barred Owl. But also, look at its ears. They’re hard to spot because Barred Owls don’t have any ear tufts. (Photo Blair Dudeck, Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

    Highlights from the Truro-Wellfleet Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 30 included a Eurasian Green-Winged Teal, a Northern Pintail, several American Woodcocks, a Sora, a Long-Eared Owl, a Barred Owl, over 30 Northern Saw-Whet Owls, 2 American Pipits, a Bohemian Waxwing, a Red Crossbill, 2 Common Redpolls, a Northern Waterthrush, and 2 Orange-Crowned Warblers.

    At Race Point in Provincetown, sightings this week included a Pacific Loon, 2 Atlantic Puffins, 6 Dovekies, a Thick-Billed Murre, 98 Common Murres, 2 Black Guillemots, 1,125 Razorbills, 35 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, and 14 Iceland Gulls.

    Great Egrets were also seen in Provincetown this week. We don’t know how many.

    If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send an email to [email protected].

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