Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, October 27, 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 October 21 and October 27, 2026.

A Sedge Wren was discovered at Nauset Marsh in Eastham on the 25^th.

A Townsend’s Solitaire was found near the Provincetown Airport on the 27^th.

The immature Purple Gallinule in West Yarmouth was last seen on the 19^th.

Up to 4 White-winged Crossbills have been seen daily near the gatehouse at Sandy Neck in Barnstable and another was at Scusset Beach in Sandwich over the weekend.

A birding trip from Plymouth to Stellwagen Bank marine sanctuary on the 25^th produced an Atlantic Puffin, 9 Razorbills, 2 Pomarine Jaegers, an Iceland Gull, 63 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 4 Leach’s Storm-Petrels, 10 Northern Fulmars, and over 1000 Great Shearwaters.

Birds at First Encounter Beach in Eastham on the 22^nd included 3000 Surf and Black Scoters, a Purple Sandpiper, 2 Parasitic Jaegers, 4 Razorbills, 8 Dovekies, 15 Black-legged Kittiwakes, 4 Cory’s Shearwaters, 2 Great Shearwaters, 3 Manx Shearwaters, and 300 Northern Gannets.

Sightings from North Chatham included a late Piping Plover, 2 American Oystercatchers, 6 Red Knots, 12 Northern Pintails, and 1515 Common Eiders.

A Rough-legged Hawk was seen at Race Point in Provincetown, where other birds included 2 Pacific Loons, 1000 Surf Scoters, 6900 White-winged Scoters, 900 Black Scoters, 4 American Golden-Plovers, 2 Pomarine Jaegers, 25 Razorbills, 5 Dovekies, a Little Gull, 200 Black-legged Kittiwakes, 325 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, an Iceland Gull, 47 Northern Fulmars, 500 Cory’s Shearwaters, 676 Great Shearwaters, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, 6 Manx Shearwaters, 1500 Northern Gannets, a Merlin, 2500 Tree Swallows, 80 Pine Siskins, and a Lapland Longspur.

Other sightings around the Cape included a Snowy Egret in Mashpee, 2 Leach’s Storm-Petrels at Sandy Neck in Barnstable, 2 Redheads on Scargo Lake in Dennis, a late Spotted Sandpiper in West Harwich, 12 Marbled Godwits at Forest Beach in Chatham, 230 Red Knots on Morris Island in Chatham, a late possible Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Putnam Farm in Orleans, and 20 Pine Siskins and a few Rusty Blackbirds by Gull Pond in Wellfleet.

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].