boardwalk trail through a grassy meadow
Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellfleet

Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, January 23, 2024

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 January 17 and January 23, 2024.

A Golden-crowned Sparrow was discovered in a private yard in Chatham this week, representing just the second Cape record of this west coast species and the first since 1980.

The Western Grebe continued at Mashpee-Wakeby Pond this week.

Despite the freezing weather, two Rufous Hummingbirds continue to be seen at Town Cove in Orleans as well as a nearby house with a heated feeder.

Two Western Tanagers continued this week near Scusset Beach reservation and Sandwich Marina, while another continued near Highland Light in Truro and yet another was discovered in Eastham near Coast Guard Beach.

The Western Kingbird and Lark Sparrow continued at the Salt Pond visitor’s center in Eastham this week.

Sightings at Race Point in Provincetown included a Pacific Loon, a Thick-billed Murre, a Common Murre, and a Glaucous Gull.

Birds in the Hyannis area included a Black-headed Gull, a Killdeer, a Semipalmated Plover, and an Orange-crowned Warbler.

Other sightings around the Cape included up to 20 Rusty Blackbirds in Sandwich, an Indigo Bunting at a feeder in Forestdale, a Great Egret at Sandy Neck in Barnstable, a Western Willet in Chatham and another in West Dennis, a Short-eared Owl in West Dennis, a Dickcissel in a private yard elsewhere in Wellfleet, single American Woodcocks in Wellfleet and Truro, 25 Tree Swallows in North Truro, and a Bohemian Waxwing in Provincetown.

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].