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bird watching

    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, Dec. 3 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    First, the sightings at Race Point in Provincetown included 2 Pacific Loons, 500 Red-Breasted Mergansers, 150 Sanderlings, 225 Dunlins, a Pomarine Jaeger, 320 Razorbills, 3 Iceland Gulls, 2 Cory’s Shearwaters, 12 Great Shearwaters, 2 Manx Shearwaters, and 2,500 Northern Gannets.

    Merganser hens often lay eggs in the nests of other mergansers and sometimes those of other duck species as well. As many as 56 eggs have been observed in a nest, thanks to contributions from several females. By laying eggs in different nests, females reduce the chances of losing all of their reproductive effort if their own nest is destroyed. In other words, they don’t put all their eggs in one basket. After hatching, broods often combine into “nurseries” or “crèches,” with one female caring for a large group, while other hens take the opportunity to feed and rest away from their broods. (Photo by Steve Hillebrand/USFWS)

    Then there was the Spotted Towhee still hanging out at the Provincetown Airport. A Prairie Warbler and 15 White-Winged Crossbills were also there.

    Elsewhere in town, there were reports of a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, an Evening Grosbeak, and, in someone’s yard, a hummingbird that defied identification.

    At First Encounter Beach in Eastham there were 8 Cory’s Shearwaters, 18 Razorbills, 105 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, 2,500 Northern Gannets, and 40 Snow Buntings.

    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

    Highlights from bird sightings on the Outer Cape over a little less than the usual one-week period. The Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary tally for us ended a day early because of the Independent’s Thanksgiving issue deadline on Monday, Nov. 25.

    Large flocks of Bohemian Waxwings wander the northwest in winter in search of berries. They summer in western Canada and Alaska. “Sometimes they stray as far east as New England, but in most areas their numbers are quite variable from year to year,” according to the Audubon Field Guide. The guide also says that the name Bohemian refers to these birds’ “unconventional and seemingly carefree lifestyle.” (Photo by Lisa Hupp/USFWS)

    A late Sooty Shearwater and a Pacific Loon were at Race Point in Provincetown this week. A Spotted Towhee, Western Tanager, Pine Grosbeak, and up to three Evening Grosbeaks all continued at various points along Race Point Road. There was a Bohemian Waxwing reported from the Beech Forest on Nov. 21. And elsewhere in town, a late Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher was spotted.

    An Atlantic Puffin passed First Encounter Beach in Eastham on Nov. 23, and somebody saw it.

    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, Nov. 19 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    The Cape’s second-ever record of a Spotted Towhee was found at the Provincetown Airport on Nov. 16. A very rare Pine Grosbeak, two White-Winged Crossbills, and a late Prairie Warbler were also seen there this week. A Western Tanager and 2 Evening Grosbeaks were seen along nearby Race Point Road. A Snowy Owl was also seen in Provincetown.

    Spotted Towhees are sparrows of “the sun-baked thickets of the West,” say the bird people at Cornell, though the second-ever bird was seen visiting Provincetown this week. Early in the breeding season, male Spotted Towhees spend 70 to 90 percent of their mornings singing their hearts out, trying to attract a mate, the Bird Lab website says. Yet, sadly, this: “Almost as soon as they attract a mate, their attention shifts to other things, and they spend only about 5 percent of their time singing.” (Photo by Lee Karney/USFWS)

    Birds from Race Point in Provincetown included a Pacific Loon, 400 Long-Tailed Ducks, 1,300 White-Winged Scoters, 1,500 Red-Breasted Mergansers, 500 Sanderlings, 400 Dunlin, 5 Pomarine Jaegers, 1,080 Razorbills, a Common Murre, 2 Dovekies, 85 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, 70 Cory’s Shearwaters, 215 Great Shearwaters, 4 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Manx Shearwaters, 3,200 Northern Gannets, 2 Lapland Longspurs, and 24 Snow Buntings.

    Masses of Cory’s Shearwaters continued in the bay this week, including about 500 at First Encounter Beach in Eastham, where other sightings included 950 Long-Tailed Ducks, 4 Purple Sandpipers, 75 Razorbills, 85 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, and 3,100 Northern Gannets.

    Elsewhere in Eastham, a Clapper Rail and an American Bittern were both seen at Fort Hill.

    There was a Blue-Headed Vireo at the Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary.

    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, Nov. 12 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Birds from Race Point in Provincetown this week included an American Golden-Plover, 5 Greater Scaup, a Harlequin Duck, 1,300 White-Winged Scoters, 800 Black Scoters, 450 Long-Tailed Ducks, 2,500 Red-Breasted Mergansers, a Purple Sandpiper, 3 Pomarine Jaegers, a Black Guillemot, 450 Razorbills, 2 Dovekies, 17 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, 150 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 400 Cory’s Shearwaters, 190 Great Shearwaters, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, 3 Manx Shearwaters, 3,500 Northern Gannets, 6 American Pipits, a Lapland Longspur, and 90 Snow Buntings.

    Elsewhere in town there was a White-Winged Crossbill.

    Taxonomists used to count Summer Tanagers among true tanagers, but they now consider them to be part of the cardinal family instead, according to the people at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (Photo by Jake Bonello/USFWS)

    Masses of Cory’s Shearwaters were in the bay this week, with many counts of hundreds from places including First Encounter in Eastham, Race Point, and Provincetown Harbor. 

    Short-Eared Owls were reported from both Provincetown and Wellfleet this week.

    A Summer Tanager was reported from Wellfleet on Nov. 11.

    2 Long-Billed Dowitchers and 6 Eastern Meadowlarks were seen at Fort Hill 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, Nov. 5 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    A Western Tanager was discovered at a private home in Provincetown over the weekend.

    Birds from Race Point in Provincetown this week included a King Eider, a Harlequin Duck, 200 Black-Bellied Plovers, an American Golden-Plover, a Parasitic Jaeger, 17 Pomarine Jaegers, 265 Razorbills, a Dovekie, 2 Pacific Loons, 50 Red-Throated Loons, 30 Common Loons, 250 Cory’s Shearwaters, 125 Great Shearwaters, 6,700 Northern Gannets, and a Short-Eared Owl.

    King Eiders forage at sea, diving to depths of over 100 feet in search of shellfish, krill, and squid, according to the American Bird Conservancy. They swallow their prey immediately while still underwater. That protuberance above the bird’s nostrils, the conservancy website says, is “a large supraorbital process (analogous to a human brow bone) to protect its eyes and salt glands from injury as it forages on the ocean floor.” (Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS)

    There was a Black-Throated Green Warbler and a Baltimore Oriole at High Head in Truro.

    A visit to Fort Hill in Eastham turned up an American Woodcock, a Blue-Headed Vireo, 2 Brown Thrashers, 15 American Pipits, 6 Purple Finches, 8 Pine Siskins, a Yellow-Breasted Chat, a Black-and-White Warbler, 2 Orange-Crowned Warblers, an American Redstart, a Black-Throated Blue Warbler, and a Dickcissel.

    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, Oct. 29 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Wood Ducks, which the people at Cornell’s All About Birds website say are “one of the most stunningly pretty of all waterfowl,” nest in trees near water. After hatching, they write, “the ducklings jump down from the nest tree and make their way to water. The mother calls them to her but does not help them in any way.” (Photo by Lane Wintermute/USFWS)

    Birds from Race Point in Provincetown this week included a Pacific Loon, an Iceland Gull, 3 Wood Ducks, 51 Green-Winged Teal, a Harlequin Duck, 550 Surf Scoters, 1,100 White-Winged Scoters, 570 Black Scoters, 33 Long-Tailed Ducks, 650 Red-Breasted Mergansers, 13 Pomarine Jaegers, 8 Razorbills, a Common Murre, 35 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, 400 Cory’s Shearwaters, a Scopoli’s Shearwater, 300 Great Shearwaters, and 600 Northern Gannets.

    There was a Purple Sandpiper in Wellfleet.

    And that’s about that out here at the far end of things.

    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, Oct. 15 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Birds from Race Point in Provincetown this week included a Pacific Loon, 53 Green-Winged Teals, 545 Surf Scoters, 886 White-Winged Scoters, an American Golden-Plover, 12 White-Rumped Sandpipers, a Razorbill, 2 Pomarine Jaegers, 7 Parasitic Jaegers, 15 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, 6 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, a Herring x Lesser Black-Backed Gull hybrid, 93 Cory’s Shearwaters, 22 Great Shearwaters, 41 Manx Shearwaters, and 45 American Pipits.

    Vermilion Flycatchers’ range does not normally include Cape Cod. They’re birds of the Southwest. Small numbers spend winters on the Gulf Coast. But one was seen on Cape Cod on Oct. 8. As if their good looks weren’t enough, according to the people at the Cornell Bird Lab, when male Vermilion Flycatchers court females, they bring gifts: often a butterfly or other flashy insect. (Photo by W. Dumbleton/USFWS)

     

    Reports from Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary included 4 Wood Ducks, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 60 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Clapper Rails, 2 Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, a Philadelphia Vireo, a White-Eyed Vireo, a Winter Wren, a Swainson’s Thrush, a Lapland Longspur, a Purple Finch, and 2 Nelson’s Sparrows.

    Lacking reports from Truro and Eastham, we can offer instead news from up Cape: a Vermilion Flycatcher, just the sixth state record, was seen on Oct. 8 at South Cape Beach in Mashpee. It has not been seen since.

    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, Oct. 8 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Birds from Race Point in Provincetown this week included a Baird’s Sandpiper, 2 American Golden-Plovers, a Pacific Loon, a Common Murre, 20 Parasitic Jaegers, 11 Cory’s Shearwaters, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 10 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Common Ravens, 3 American Kestrels, and 42 American Pipits.

    The long-staying Brown Pelican last reported on Sept. 2 was seen this week at High Head in Truro. There was also a Vireo at High Head.

    The males of the Eastern Bluebird species may be pretty with their royal blue plumage, but “blue tinges in the wings and tail give the grayer females an elegant look,” say the people at the Cornell Bird Lab. These birds favor open spaces with good views, and if you’re putting out a feeder, they’d like you to know what they want are mealworms, not just a bunch of seeds, thank you very much. (Photo by Jean Owens/USFWS)

    Birds at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary included a Black Skimmer, 40 Forster’s Terns, 2 Yellow-Crowned Night-Herons, 2 Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, a Veery, a Gray-Cheeked Thrush, 37 Eastern Bluebirds, and a Blue-Winged Warbler. Elsewhere in Wellfleet there was a Hooded Warbler and a Gray-Cheeked Thrush.

    What’s up, Eastham birdwatchers? 

    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, Sept. 10 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 a Caspian Tern, a Sabine’s Gull, a Pacific Loon, 9 Whimbrels, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 150 Roseate Terns, and 15 Parasitic Jaegers.

    Pine Siskin populations fluctuate in Massachusetts between years of scarcity and years of abundance, according to the Mass Audubon website. Pine Siskins, which were formerly known as pine finches, spend most of their time in the coniferous forests of Canada and the northern U.S., but they come here in big numbers when there are changes in the cone seed supply that they thrive on. (Photo by Dave Menke/USFWS)

    There was a Pine Siskin at Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary and a Seaside Sparrow, too. 

    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, Sept. 3 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    There was a Sabine’s Gull on Stellwagen Bank.

    A Brown Booby was seen at Race Point in Provincetown on Aug. 28. Other reports from the Race this week included a Pacific Loon, 4 Red Knots, 2 Whimbrels, a Long-Tailed Jaeger, 15 Parasitic Jaegers, 1,500 Laughing Gulls, 2 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 3,000 Common Terns, 800 Roseate Terns, 10 Cory’s Shearwaters, 50 Great Shearwaters, 15 Sooty Shearwaters, and 250 Manx Shearwaters.

    “Brown Boobies are common in the Caribbean but scarce in the United States away from Puerto Rico. That means almost any Brown Booby you’ll see in the U.S. or Canada will be a rarity.” So say the people at the Cornell Bird Lab. So, consider yourselves lucky, you Race Point birdwatchers. (Photo by Charles J. Sharp, Wikimedia Commons S.A. 4.0)

    A single Philadelphia Vireo was seen in Wellfleet.

    Between the houseguests and the sunny weather, nobody from Truro or Eastham dropped a dime 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, Aug. 27 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    A Wood Stork was found in a recently cleared area along the Herring River in Wellfleet over the weekend, representing just the third Cape Cod record of this species. A Hooded Warbler and a Yellow-Throated Vireo were also seen in the area. There was a Caspian Tern at Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary.

    Wood Storks are entirely white except for their black flight feathers and tails. Their heads are unfeathered. “To get a look at one, head to a wetland preserve or wildlife area along the coast in Florida, South Carolina, or Georgia,” say the experts at the Cornell Bird Lab. Or, you could try looking along the Herring River in Wellfleet. Also: “This stork doesn’t bring babies,” the Cornellians say. (Photo by Susan Young/USFWS)

    Sightings at Race Point in Provincetown included an American Golden Plover, 4 Whimbrels, a Red Knot, 4 Parasitic Jaegers, a Black Tern, 2,200 Common Terns, 500 Roseate Terns, 2 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 4 Cory’s Shearwaters, 12 Great Shearwaters, 5 Sooty Shearwaters, and 45 Manx Shearwaters. 

    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, Aug. 20 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    Sightings at Race Point in Provincetown this week included a Pacific Loon, a Long-Tailed Jaeger, 4 Parasitic Jaegers, an Arctic Tern, and a Lesser Black-Backed Gull.

    An American Bittern was seen at High Head in Truro.

    Bald Eagles nest in forested areas, usually within a mile of open water, but in areas where the shoreline has been developed they will nest farther inland. They typically build in the tallest trees in the immediate area for superior views, and their nests can be enormous: as large as eight feet across and weighing up to two tons, according to the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary website, which also reports that some pairs have two nests that they alternate between. (Photo by Andy Morffew)

    A survey of the Herring River in Wellfleet tallied 3 Clapper Rails, 6 Virginia Rails, a Sora, 2 Common Ravens, and 6 Marsh Wrens. There was also a Bald Eagle, a Wilson’s Snipe, and 20 Whimbrels at Indian Neck. 

    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].

    MORNING FLIGHT

    For Birds, Summer Is Over

    Following flocks for the first signs of fall’s progression

    By

    The more time I spend in nature, the clearer it becomes that the four seasons are a myth. At the very least, they are too simplistic: how can we look at the blustery cold days in late March, when chipmunks emerge from semi-hibernation and arctic waterbirds court in the harbors, and the hot days in early June, when cicadas buzz and warblers sing in the trees, and call them both spring?

    The truth is that our year is made of dozens of short seasons, each bleeding into the next like runny watercolors. One such micro-season comes in early August. I like to think of this time as invisible fall: the weather still looks like summer, and the diversity of birds is mostly the same as it was a month earlier, but if you watch closely, these birds’ behaviors start changing, and it becomes clear that summer is largely over.

    By now, shorebirds have been acting like they are deep into fall for a while. Go out to any mud flat or salt marsh at low tide and you’ll surely see scores of these small, long-legged birds scurrying around the flats, probing the muck with their bills. Shorebirds are weird, though. Being high arctic breeders, their breeding season is short, so their fall migration begins on the Cape around the end of June when most birds are still incubating eggs.

    Tree swallows begin aggregating at roosting sites in the late summer in massive swarms that can be found throughout the National Seashore. (Photo by Ron Wruckle/USFWS)

    The big recent changes here are happening with land birds. I saw one such change on Aug. 1 at the wetland at Bayberry Hollow Farm in Provincetown: a flock of brown-headed cowbirds were there, marching around the horse paddocks.

    These flocks, it seems, tend to form primarily in the fall and are composed of both juvenile and adult birds. These juveniles have spent the first weeks of their lives being raised by other birds whose nests they got dumped in by their parents — this flock probably represents the first cowbirds the juveniles have ever met.

    Driving to Wellfleet that evening, I saw that flocking in the lead-up to fall is not restricted to cowbirds. A swarm of a few hundred tree swallows danced overhead as they gathered to roost at the east end of East Harbor in Truro, a roost that will continue to grow through the fall. Farther along, a river of grackles appeared in the sky near Wellfleet’s Herring River, also gathering at a roost that will grow during the fall.

    August and September are also peak heron season on the Outer Cape, when the year’s crop of young birds join their adult counterparts in the marshes. It’s a good time of year to find uncommon herons, such as the juvenile yellow-crowned night heron that I came across at Herring Pond in Eastham earlier in the month.

    This speckled brown bird probably didn’t hatch on Cape Cod, since yellow-crowned night herons are quite rare breeders in the state. Young herons are prone to wandering at this time of year, though. Something about the Outer Cape attracted this young bird from its nesting ground, perhaps in Connecticut or New York.

    In the forests, the behavior of warblers makes fall’s approach apparent. During the summer, these tiny songbirds lead rather antisocial lives. The males fiercely defend territories from encroachers, and parents focus on raising their young. But the young fly the coop by late July, leaving these birds free to form flocks.

    I was taking an early morning walk along the Herring River in Wellfleet with another local birder when we came upon one of these warbler flocks. It was full of many of the most common breeders in the region: yellow warblers, ovenbirds, black-and-white warblers. But fall flocks like these have far more than just warblers. This one was loaded with chickadees, cardinals, gray catbirds, and even a pair of skulky hermit thrushes. A lot of these birds were juveniles, too, from right along the Herring River.

    As we combed through this flock, I caught sight of a strange-looking warbler flitting through the brush. It had a pink bill, a short tail, a buff body, and black stripes on its head. I blurted out, “Worm-eating warbler!” This is a rare bird on the Outer Cape, typical of more southern forests. It flushed, zipping farther down the trail and diving into a bush. We followed it, maneuvering to get better looks and a photo.

    There is no better time to spot rarities than the fall. There are lots of adult birds wandering around looking for food on their slow journey south and plenty of young birds still learning the ropes of what being a bird is like.

    After about 10 minutes, the bird popped back out, and my friend snapped a photo for proof. Proof is needed, since outside of a tiny population around Falmouth and Mashpee, worm-eating warblers are a true rarity on Cape Cod. Our sighting was only the fourth fall record north of Orleans on the species, according to the citizen science database eBird.

    As we continued to walk, there was one change that stood out from the others: the quiet. A month ago, our forests had a rich soundscape of cardinals, pine warblers, tufted titmice, and other local breeders. Now, those birds are mostly just calling — save for the songs of a few loud males, birdsong is notably absent.

    Even with the heat of August still blazing, watching the birds I know that, before long, cold winds will sweep through the northeast and herald the end of summer — for humans, at least. For birds, summer’s been over for a while.

    RARA AVIS

    This Week’s Bird Sightings

    By

    Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tue

    sday, August 13 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    An Atlantic Puffin and 3 Long-Tailed Jaegers were seen at Race Point in Provincetown over the weekend along with a Pacific Loon, a Black Tern, 315 Roseate Terns, 6 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 400 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 17 Cory’s Shearwaters, 75 Great Shearwaters, 6 Sooty Shearwaters, 52 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Whimbrels, 3 Glossy Ibis, and 2 Cliff Swallows.

    A Glossy Ibis with emerald, bronze, and violet feathers is the odd man out in a tree full of plain old white ones. These birds are somewhat nomadic, according to the people at the Cornell Bird Lab. The fact that they disperse widely after the nesting season has aided their survival: they expanded their range from the southeastern U.S. to include much of eastern North America. The “All About Birds” entry includes this: “Glossy Ibises banded in Spain have turned up as far away as Barbados, having crossed the Atlantic — a remarkable feat but one that several species of heron and egret have managed as well.” (Photo by Veronica Runge/USFWS)

    An International Shorebird Survey Blitz of Nauset Marsh on the Aug. 6 tallied 3,000 Semipalmated Plovers, 4 Whimbrels, 4 Hudsonian Godwits, 825 Short-Billed Dowitchers, 3 “Henderson’s” Short-Billed Dowitchers, 274 Red Knots, 25 White-Rumped Sandpipers, 340 Least Sandpipers, 8 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2,700 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 6 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 7 Forster’s Terns, 400 Common Terns, 30 Roseate Terns, 11 Yellow-Crowned Night-Herons, 18 Snowy Egrets, 9 Great Egrets, 7 Great Blue Herons, and 12 Saltmarsh Sparrows.

    Some early migrant warblers this week included 2 Black-Throated Green-Warblers that landed on a whale watch boat on Stellwagen Bank.

    A Cliff Swallow and a Red-Necked Phalarope were sighted at Ballston Beach in Truro, and there was an American Bittern at High Head in North Truro.

    There was a Common Nighthawk in Eastham.

    Apparently, nobody saw anything 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, August 6 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

    A Pacific Loon in breeding plumage was off Coast Guard Beach in Truro this week, a rare sight away from Race Point.

    Pacific Loons sometimes show up on the Atlantic coast in winter, according to the people at the Cornell Bird Lab. It certainly did not walk here. “Like other loons, Pacific Loons have their feet positioned far back on their bodies,” the Cornell website says. “This makes them strong swimmers, but they can only barely walk on land and cannot take flight from land at all. They must flap and patter across 30-50 yards of open water to take flight.” (Photo by Ryan Askren)

    Other birds at Race Point in Provincetown included 2 Pacific Loons, 2 Marbled Godwits, 20 Piping Plovers, 12 Whimbrels, a Royal Tern, 11 Black Terns, 130 Roseate Terns, a Lesser Black-Backed Gull, 2 Parasitic Jaegers, 1,100 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 7 Cory’s Shearwaters, 12 Great Shearwaters, 6 Sooty Shearwaters, 15 Manx Shearwaters, and 7 Cliff Swallows.

    There was a Worm-Eating Warbler 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].

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