Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Dec. 13 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Tens of thousands of Dovekies passed by the Cape over the course of few days this week, including almost 19,000 tallied at First Encounter Beach in Eastham on Thursday, Dec. 8. Several thousand were also counted at Provincetown and Dennis beaches. Dozens were stranded away from the water and brought to wildlife rehabilitators.
A Slaty-Backed Gull, native to Asia, was found at the Provincetown breakwater over the weekend. Other birds in Provincetown Harbor included a Purple Sandpiper, a Black Guillemot, 48 Dovekies, a Common Murre, 2 Thick-Billed Murres, 100 Razorbills, a Lesser Black-Backed Gull, and 3 Iceland Gulls.
From Race Point to Herring Cove in Provincetown, sightings this week included a Pacific Loon, a Snow Goose, 2,400 Red-Breasted Mergansers, 3,000 Dovekies, 180 Common Murres, 1,200 Razorbills, a Glaucous Gull, 10 Iceland Gulls, 115 Black-Legged Kittiwakes, a Great Shearwater, and a Lapland Longspur.
There was an Evening Grosbeak in Eastham. And also a Short-Eared Owl.
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].
