Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Cape Cod Weekly Wildlife Sightings is sponsored by the Bird Watchers General Store in Orleans and Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The following sightings were reported between December 11 and December 17, 2024.

The Spotted Towhee continued at the Provincetown Airport this week, and the mystery hummingbird of Provincetown has been confirmed as a Black-chinned Hummingbird, only the third ever recorded on Cape Cod.

Highlights from Sunday’s Cape Cod Christmas Bird Count, spanning Harwich to North Eastham, included a Painted Bunting and a Sedge Wren in Eastham, a Manx Shearwater off Brewster, a Yellow Warbler and a Sora in Orleans, a Clay-colored Sparrow in Harwich, and finally 2 American Oystercatchers, 2 Clapper Rails, an Evening Grosbeak, 2 Baltimore Orioles, and three Yellow-breasted Chats in Chatham.

Highlights from Saturday’s Buzzard’s Bay count, which includes parts of Falmouth, Bourne, Mashpee, and Sandwich, included a Vesper Sparrow, multiple House Wrens, and a Eurasian Green-winged Teal.

Other sightings around the Cape included a Short-eared Owl in West Barnstable, a Western Willet in West Dennis, a Spotted Sandpiper in Orleans, a Lincoln’s Sparrow at Fort Hill in Eastham, a Fox Sparrow at the feeders of Wellfleet Bay sanctuary, and a Pacific Loon at Race Point 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 e-mail to [email protected].