Cape Cod Bird Sightings — Tuesday, September 9, 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 September 3 and September 9, 2025.

Multiple Magnificent Frigatebirds were reported over the weekend, including one in Hyannis and at least three in Chatham, one of which spent the night on top of a flagpole by the lighthouse. None have been seen since.

A Black-necked Stilt is being seen seen at marshes behind south facing beaches in Harwich and Chatham over the last week.

At least one Mississippi Kite continued in South Sandwich this week.

An all-day whale watch/birding trip out of Provincetown on Saturday tallied a Red-necked Phalarope, 4 Parasitic Jaegers, 2 Pomarine Jaegers, a Sabine’s Gull, 130 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 230 Cory’s Shearwaters, 500 Great Shearwaters, 88 Sooty Shearwaters, and 45 Manx Shearwaters.

A Buff-breasted Sandpiper was seen at Race Point in Provincetown, where other sightings included an American Golden-Plover, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Red Knots, a Little Gull, 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 3 Parasitic Jaegers, 9 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 20 Cory’s Shearwaters. 11 Great Shearwaters, a Sooty Shearwater, 44 Manx Shearwaters, and 13 Horned Larks.

Birds at Wellfleet Bay sanctuary included 16 Whimbrel, a Little Blue Heron, a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and an Alder Flycatcher.

Other sightings around the Cape included a Ring-necked Duck at Santuit Pond in Mashpee, a Caspian Tern elsewhere in Mashpee, 3 Bald Eagles at Nickerson State Park in Brewster, a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and a Philadelphia Vireo at Wing Island in Brewster, a Cattle Egret in Chatham, and a hybrid Blue-winged x Golden-winged Warbler in Eastham.

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].