Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, January 7, 2025
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 31, 2024 and January 7, 2025.
The Ferruginous Hawk at Morris Island in Chatham was last seen on the 2nd. Other sightings there included 6 Piping Plovers, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 14 Black-bellied Plovers, 85 Red Knots, 4 Northern Harriers, and a Bald Eagle.
The Spotted Towhee and a lingering Prairie Warbler continued at the Provincetown Airport this week, and the Black-chinned Hummingbird and Western Tanager continue elsewhere in Provincetown. A very late Indigo Bunting was also at the house hosting the hummingbird.
An Ash-throated Flycatcher continues in East Falmouth this week, and a Northern Shrike, a Chipping Sparrow, and a Vesper Sparrow continue at nearby at Crane WMA.
Highlights from the Truro Christmas Bird Count on the 31st included a Bohemian Waxwing, a Clay-colored Sparrow, a Dovekie, 2 Sora, and up to 2 Pacific Loons in Truro, and 2 Clapper Rails, 2 Barrow’s Goldeneye, a Black Guillemot, and 99 Ruddy Turnstones in Wellfleet.
Three Pacific Loons were at Race Point in Provincetown this week, along with 2 Northern Pintail, 124 Dovekies, 2374 Razorbills, 86 Common Murres, a Thick-billed Murre, 39 Black-legged Kittiwakes, 23 Iceland Gulls, 300 Northern Gannets, and 50 Snow Buntings.
Other sightings around the Cape included a Black-headed Gull in Hyannis, 10 Long-billed Dowitchers in Centerville, a Short-eared Owl and an Ovenbird at Sandy Neck in Barnstable, 3 Rusty Blackbirds in West Barnstable, 4 Baltimore Orioles in Cummaquid, 25 Redpolls at the Barnstable landfill, a Great Egret in Yarmouth, a Western Willet in West Dennis, a Black-throated Green Warbler in Dennis, an American Bittern in West Harwich, 7 Killdeer elsewhere in Harwich, a Clapper Rail in Wellfleet, an American Woodcock in North Truro, and 3 Harlequin Ducks and a Black Guillemot 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 e-mail to [email protected].