Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, August 11, 2026

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 August 5 and August 11, 2026.

At least 3 Swallow-tailed Kites continued along rt 28 in Cotuit and nearby areas, and a Mississippi Kite was photographed in Falmouth.

Birds at Race Point this week included an American Golden-Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 10 Red-necked Phalarope, a Black Tern, 2 Arctic Terns, 750 Roseate Terns, 400 Common Terns, 130 Least Terns, 40 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, and small numbers of Great, Cory’s, Sooty, and Manx Shearwaters.

Birds tallied at the Chatham end of Nauset Beach included 185 Black-bellied Plovers, 390 Semipalmated Plovers, 670 Short-billed Dowitchers, a Long-billed Dowitcher, 11 Lesser Yellowlegs, 12 Red Knots, 205 Sanderlings, 490 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 25 Roseate Terns.

A survey of the south end of Monomoy NWR turned up 10 Ruddy Ducks, 2 American Coot, 6 American Oystercatchers, 275 Semipalmated Plovers, 10 Piping Plovers, 500 Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Long-billed Dowitchers, a Stilt Sandpiper, a Black Skimmer, 5 Forster’s Terns, and a Black Tern.

Birds at Wellfleet Bay sanctuary included a Marbled Godwit, 16 Whimbrels, 2 Yellow-crowed Night-Herons, 3 Little Blue Herons, and an American Golden Plover.

Other sightings around the Cape included a Dickcissel at Crane WMA in Falmouth plus another in Mashpee, 2 Marbled Godwits at Forest Beach in Chatham, at least one Chuck-will’s-Widow continuing at Nauset Light Beach in Eastham, a Stilt Sandpiper at Duck Harbor in Wellfleet, and an American Golden-Plover 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].