Recent bird sightings on Cape Cod (as of Aug. 26) as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society.
The big news to most people on the Cape was Hurricane Bill. The concern for beachgoers was to not get swept away, while the concern for birders was to find a good spot to view the ocean and look for “storm birds.’’
The big “storm bird’’ this week was off the Cape: an immature white-tailed tropicbird seen in Carlisle. It is very rare in Massachusetts waters, let alone on north shores. Keep an eye out for any other oddities that may still be around.
A “storm bird’’ watch at First Encounter Beach in Eastham on Sunday had the following: common eider, surf scoter, white-winged scoter, common loon, Cory’s shearwater, greater shearwater, sooty shearwater, Manx shearwater, Wilson’s storm-petrel, Leach’s storm-petrel, Northern gannet, double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, semipalmated plover, greater yellowlegs, willet, whimbrel, ruddy turnstone, semipalmated sandpiper, least sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, short-billed dowitcher, phalarope sp, laughing gull, ring-billed gull, herring gull, great black-backed gull, least tern, gull-billed tern, black tern, roseate tern, common tern, pomarine jaeger, and parasitic jaeger.
Shorebird migration is still underway and here is the list of birds seen in the North Monomoy and South Beach area: Canada goose, American black duck, common eider, surf scoter, white-winged scoter, black scoter, red-breasted merganser, Northern gannet, double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, green heron, black-crowned night-heron, glossy ibis, turkey vulture, osprey, Northern harrier, Cooper’s hawk, red-tailed hawk, black-bellied plover, semipalmated plover, piping plover, killdeer, American oystercatcher, spotted sandpiper, solitary sandpiper, greater yellowlegs, willet, lesser yellowlegs, upland sandpiper, whimbrel, hudsonian godwit, marbled godwit, ruddy turnstone, red knot, sanderling, semipalmated sandpiper, Western sandpiper, least sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, pectoral sandpiper, dunlin, short-billed dowitcher, laughing gull, ring-billed gull, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, great black-backed gull, least tern, black tern, roseate tern, common tern, Forster’s tern, tree swallow, barn swallow, cedar waxwing, savannah sparrow, salt marsh sharp-tailed sparrow, and song sparrow.
For more information about bird sightings or to report bird sightings, call the Massachusetts Audubon Society at 781-259-8805 or go to www.massaudubon.org. 
