Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, March 17, 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 March 11 and March 17, 2026.

The King Eider continues in Sandwich Marina and surrounding areas.

A male Painted Bunting continued off Breakwater Rd in Brewster.

Widespread new early spring migrants arriving in recent days include Turkey Vultures and Brown-headed Cowbirds, plus first reports of a Barn Swallow in Harwich and a Great Egret in Mashpee.

Reports from Race Point in Provincetown include a Northern Shrike, 2 Pacific Loons, 4 Piping Plovers, 223 Razorbills, 3 Common Murres, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Glaucous Gull, 47 Iceland Gulls, 77 Red-throated Loons, 4 Common Ravens, and an Ipswich Savannah Sparrow.

Other sightings around the Cape included a Northern Shrike in Falmouth, an Orange-crowned Warbler continuing at a feeder in Mashpee, 4 Black-headed Gulls and an American Bittern in Hyannis, 2 Thick-billed Murres and an American Pipit at Hardings Beach in Chatham, a continuing Dickcissel at feeders elsewhere in Chatham, a Barrow’s Goldeneye in Wellfleet Harbor, and a Thick-billed Murre 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].