Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, December 16, 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 10 and December 16, 2025.

A Western Tanager was found at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay sanctuary on Thursday and continued at least through Friday.

The male Painted Bunting continued at a feeder in Brewster where it was recorded for the Lower Cape Christmas Bird Count on Sunday.

Other highlights from that count included a Clapper Rail and 6 Western Willets in South Chatham,2 Common Terns in North Chatham, a Blue-headed Vireo and a Yellow-breasted Chat in South Orleans, a Common Yellowthroat and 4 Northern Shovelers in Harwich, and a Short-eared Owl and a Sora at Nauset Beach in Orleans.

Birds at Race Point in Provincetown included a Black Guillemot, 200 Razorbills, 13 Dovekies, 3 Common Murres, 45 Black-legged Kittiwakes, 6 Iceland Gulls, a Red-necked Grebe, and 75 Northern Gannets.

Other sightings around the Cape included 2 continuing Eurasian Wigeon in Yarmouth Port, 2 Barrow’s Goldeneyes at Loop Beach in Cotuit, a Great Egret at Mass Audubon’s Skunknett River sanctuary in Barnstable, a Nashville Warbler reported at a house in Yarmouth, continuing unseasonably large numbers of Tree Swallows various places including over 50 in Falmouth, 2 Western Willets in Chatham, and an American Golden-Plover in North Truro.

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].