A combined Brookline and South Shore Bird Clubs trip spent the day on the Outer Cape.  We began at the Eastham Stump Dump, continued to the Marconi headquarters area, Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Race Point/Herring Cove, First Encounter and ended the day at Fort Hill.  Highlights were 6 Peregrine (or more), 15 Parasitic, 2 Pomarine jaegers, a western Nashville Warbler, 2 yellow palms, a Blue Grosbeak, a Rusty Blackbird, at least 7 flyover siskins and a tailless Red Crossbill.


R-Race Point, F-First Encounter, Eastham, H-Fort Hill, Eastham, P-Provincetown (Beech Forest), W-Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, the rest in Eastham unless noted.

Canada Goose 7
Mute Swan 10
American Black Duck 7
Mallard 1
Common Eider 87 (2-R, 85-H, one flock flyover which these sea ducks do instead of going around the cape, just fly over it)
Surf Scoter 5-R
White-winged Scoter 8-R
Wild Turkey 5-Truro
Common Loon 1
Cory's Shearwater 1-R
Northern Gannet 35-R
Double-crested Cormorant ***
Great Blue Heron 58 (5-F, 53-H)
Great Egret 8 (3-F, 5-H)
Snowy Egret 14-H
Turkey Vulture 3 (1-W, 2-Provinetown)
Northern Harrier 3 (1-R, 2-H)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 (1-P)
Cooper's Hawk 2 (1-P)
Red-tailed Hawk 2 (1-W, 1-H)
Merlin 2 (1-R, 1-F)
Peregrine Falcon 6 (1-W, 1-R, 2-H, 1-Truro, 1-Wellfleet)
Black-bellied Plover 17 (12-R, 5-H)
Killdeer 1 calling in the dark flying over the commuter lot in Bourne
Greater Yellowlegs 221 (17-W, 4-P, 200-H)
Solitary Sandpiper 2 (1-W, 1-P)
Sanderling 23-R
Short-billed Dowitcher 2 + From several hundred feet, originally ID'd as Long-billed, but today's research and looking at Steve Arena's images yesterday makes this the probable species; perhaps best left as dowitcher, sp for our list
AMERICAN WOODCOCK 1 a large bird blasted out of the stump area
Pomarine Jaeger 2 including one bird which chased a Laughing Gull and was larger than it
Parasitic Jaeger 15
Laughing Gull 200 (150-R, 50-H) probably under counted
Ring-billed Gull ***
Herring Gull ***
Great Black-backed Gull ***
Common Tern 1000-R
Forster's Tern 30 (15-R, 15-H)
Mourning Dove 42 (1-W)
Belted Kingfisher 2 (1-W, 1-F)
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4 (1-P)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 imm-W
Downy Woodpecker 4 (2-W)
Hairy Woodpecker 2 (1-W)
Northern Flicker 3 (1-W)
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue-headed Vireo 2 (1-W)
Blue Jay 20 (5-W)
American Crow 32 (20-W)
Tree Swallow 23
Black-capped Chickadee 40
Tufted Titmouse 6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 29
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
Carolina Wren 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 (2-W)
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 18
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 3 (2-H)
European Starling ***
American Pipit 2-R
Cedar Waxwing 18 (15-H)
NASHVILLE WARBLER 1-W western form ID'd as such due to it's habit of tail pumping which this did constantly.  When first seen thought this was going to be another Palm, but immediately saw a complete bold eyering and yellow throat and undertail.  This form seems not to have an overlapping nesting range per the warbler book (Dunn) and, if I recall an old article/posting from a few years ago, might be a candidate for splitting.  This is the first time I can recall seeing this behavior from a Nashville.
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 (1-W)
Pine Warbler 2-W
Palm Warbler 6 including 2 YELLOW; what is happening this year with so many Yellow Palms being seen along the coast?
Common Yellowthroat 2
Eastern Towhee 3 (1-W, 2-P)
Chipping Sparrow 12 (1-W)
Field Sparrow 4
Savannah Sparrow 7
Song Sparrow 25
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 7
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 10
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4 (2-W) this is the most I have encountered on one fall day
BLUE GROSBEAK 1 way in the back of the stump dump, as far as one can walk
Indigo Bunting 7
DICKCISSEL 1 seen briefly by at least two of us
RUSTY BLACKBIRD 1-P  the Beech Forest seems to be a reliable spot at this time of year as birds feed along the ground at the edge of the water areas
Brown-headed Cowbird 20-Truro another oddity, there is a reliable flock at this time of year feeding along the road edge on RT6 along the Pilgrim Lake stretch; often we don't actually stop and just note them in passing
Baltimore Oriole 1
Purple Finch 1-R one bird flying low over the parking lot at Race Point
House Finch 44 (4-W)
RED CROSSBILL 1 heard well, then flew before we could find it sitting.  Appeared to be missing most of it's tail.
Pine Siskin 7 (1-W)
American Goldfinch 15
House Finch ***

89 species


Glenn d'Entremont:  gdentremont1@comcast.net  Stoughton, MA