Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary
208 South Great Road Lincoln, Massachusetts 01773
tel 781.259.2200 fax 781.259.7941 www.massaudubon.org Cape Cod Birding Weekend December 2-3, 2017
Leaders: Strickland Wheelock Kathy Seymour Leslie Bostrom
Our weekend outing is designed to introduce you to the many productive winter birding locations on Cape Cod. Winter is a special time to visit, when the beach crowds of summer are replaced by diverse visitors of another type. We will explore a wide variety of habitats, sampling all the Cape has to offer. More than 300 freshwater ponds dot the landscape, where one can find wintering ducks that are hard to find elsewhere in Massachusetts. Sea ducks, gulls, alcids, and seabirds are found in harbors, bays and extensive coastal waters. Adjacent beaches, dunes, mudflats and salt marshes host wintering shorebirds, sparrows and raptors. Open grasslands provide habitat for raptors and sparrows. Dense, protective coastal thickets with fruiting shrubs attract semi-hardy passerines that are not able to winter in harsher conditions on the mainland. Perhaps most exciting is that the combination of unique habitats and a warmer climate than the mainland always offers a good chance of finding something special. If any rarities are reported in the area, we will chase them! We should encounter 20+ species of ducks, as well as wintering shorebirds, passerines, raptors, sparrows, gulls, alcids and seabirds. Highlights from prior trips include Canvasback, Redhead, Eurasian Wigeon, Barrow’s Goldeneye, King Eider, Iceland, Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Razorbill, Black-legged Kittiwake, Rough-legged Hawk, Short-eared Owl, Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur, and Yellow-breasted Chat.
Saturday, December 2 We will depart Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary at 7:00am. Our first stop will be Scusset Beach State Reservation at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal. This is an outstanding location in the winter for a wide variety of species. We will scan coastal waters for Iceland and Glaucous gulls, loons, grebes, scoters, goldeneye and other sea ducks, and possibly alcids if we are lucky. Usually, we have the chance to admire birds up-close in the canal. Wintering shorebirds such as Sanderling, Dunlin, and Purple Sandpiper are found on the beach and rock jetties. Horned Lark, Snow Bunting and possibly Lapland Longspur take advantage of empty parking lots and grassy areas. Dense thickets provide excellent cover for wintering songbirds, and we have a chance to find something unusual like a Yellow-breasted Chat or Orange-crowned Warbler among bluebirds, waxwings and other winter residents. From here we will bird our way to Provincetown, stopping at an array of ponds, beaches and sheltered bays where we hope to find many species of waterbirds, including Pied-billed Grebe, Brant, Ruddy Duck, Redhead, Canvasback and possibly Eurasian Wigeon and King Eider. Beach dunes attract land birds such as “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrow and Snow Bunting, as well as raptors like Snowy Owl and Northern Harrier. According to Birding Cape Cod, “On a day-to-day basis, probably no other town on Cape Cod offers the birding potential of Provincetown. Composed entirely of sand washed northward from Cape Cod’s eroding eastern shore and virtually surrounded by water, almost every aspect of the area is unique and reflects the ocean’s pervasive influence.” We will end our day at one of the most exciting sites - Race Point Beach – with the potential for pelagic species seldom seen from land. Its location on the tip of the peninsula, jutting far out into the Atlantic, intercepts birds travelling south from the Gulf of Maine. Food is abundant from upwelling in deep waters close to shore and at Stellwagen Bank a few miles north. In winter,
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary the point is known as an excellent place for observing seabirds, including Black-legged Kittiwake, Razorbill, shearwaters, murres, guillemot, and, with much luck, Dovekie. Lodging in Provincetown
Sunday, December 3 We will head back to Race Point at dawn hoping to find seabirds that drifted close to land overnight. On prior trips this has been a magical experience, watching a parade of kittiwakes and shearwaters feeding just offshore as the sun comes up. Before leaving Provincetown, we will check out MacMillan Wharf, Herring Cove Beach and Hatches Harbor for Iceland, Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Black Guillemot, and Purple Sandpiper, along with many sea ducks. MacMillan Wharf extends well out into Provincetown Harbor and offers the opportunity for excellent up-close views.
On our return trip, we will visit Fort Hill in Eastham, a site with diverse habitats that always holds something of interest. Grassy fields and dense thickets attract wintering songbirds, and it is a perfect vantage point to scan Nauset Marsh and Coast Guard Beach. From here, we will follow the southern coast towards Falmouth, visiting a number of sites on Nantucket Sound. Large flocks of sea ducks winter on the sound, and historically this has been an excellent place to find Barrow’s Goldeneye. Several ponds in the area hold a diverse array of wintering waterfowl that prefer sheltered fresh water, including Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, and Hooded Merganser. The Falmouth area is also good for landbirds. We will visit Crane Wildlife Management Area, a 1900-acre tract of pine barrens and grassland, looking for Eastern Meadowlark, bluebirds, sparrows and raptors. Before leaving the Cape, we will check out a few of “Strickland’s secret spots” – thickets near Woods Hole where we have found chat, towhee, Hermit Thrush and other exciting birds throughout the years.
From Falmouth, we will return to Drumlin Farm after an exciting weekend showcasing the incredible diversity of birdlife that can found on Cape Cod in the winter. We plan to return to Drumlin Farm by approximately 5:30pm.
Please note: This is a natural history field trip – we will rise early every morning and be active all day. Participants should be able to be to walk at least one mile and be on their feet for 1-2 hours. While we attempt to be true to our itinerary, all scheduled events are subject to change depending on the weather and other considerations.
Fees - Member $280; Non-member $335 Single Room Supplement - $75 Deposit - $100 due with registration; final payment due by November 2, 2017 Fee covers all ground transportation, lodging and entrance fees. Participants are responsible for personal supplies, snacks and meals.
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Registration Form – Cape Cod Weekend 2017
To register by mail, please fill out the form below and mail it to: Adult Program Registrar Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary 208 South Great Road Lincoln, MA 01773
For more information or to register by phone, please contact: Kathy Seymour, Birding Tour Leader Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary 208 South Great Road Lincoln, MA 01773 781-259-2207 [email protected]
Name(s) ______Member no.______Address ______
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Would you like to receive our monthly e-mail Birders Connection? Yes___ No___
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Single Room Requested: Yes ___ No ___ Please note single supplement fee.
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Payment by check is greatly appreciated, and enables us to use more of our funds for programming. Please make your check payable to Mass Audubon. Thank you.
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Checklist – Cape Cod Weekend 2017
Brant Northern Harrier Blue Jay Canada Goose Sharp-shinned Hawk American Crow Mute Swan Cooper's Hawk Fish Crow Wood Duck Bald Eagle Common Raven Gadwall Red-shouldered Hawk Horned Lark Eurasian Wigeon Red-tailed Hawk Black-capped Chickadee American Wigeon Rough-legged Hawk Tufted Titmouse American Black Duck Virginia Rail Red-breasted Nuthatch Mallard American Coot White-breasted Nuthatch Northern Shoveler Black-bellied Plover Brown Creeper Northern Pintail Killdeer Carolina Wren Green-winged Teal Greater Yellowlegs Golden-crowned Kinglet Canvasback Ruddy Turnstone Eastern Bluebird Redhead Sanderling Hermit Thrush Ring-necked Duck Dunlin American Robin Greater Scaup Purple Sandpiper Gray Catbird Lesser Scaup Pomarine Jaeger Northern Mockingbird King Eider Dovekie European Starling Common Eider Common Murre Cedar Waxwing Surf Scoter Thick-billed Murre Lapland Longspur White-winged Scoter Razorbill Snow Bunting Black Scoter Black Guillemot Orange-crowned Warbler Long-tailed Duck Black-legged Kittiwake Palm Warbler Bufflehead Bonaparte's Gull Pine Warbler Common Goldeneye Laughing Gull Yellow-rumped Warbler Barrow's Goldeneye Ring-billed Gull Yellow-breasted Chat Hooded Merganser Herring Gull American Tree Sparrow Common Merganser Iceland Gull Chipping Sparrow Red-breasted Merganser Lesser Black-backed Gull Field Sparrow Ruddy Duck Glaucous Gull Fox Sparrow Wild Turkey Great Black-backed Gull Dark-eyed Junco Red-throated Loon Rock Pigeon White-crowned Sparrow Common Loon Mourning Dove White-throated Sparrow Pied-billed Grebe Eastern Screech-Owl Savannah Sparrow Horned Grebe Great Horned Owl Song Sparrow Red-necked Grebe Snowy Owl Swamp Sparrow Great Shearwater Short-eared Owl Eastern Towhee Sooty Shearwater Belted Kingfisher Northern Cardinal Manx Shearwater Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-winged Blackbird Northern Gannet Downy Woodpecker Eastern Meadowlark Double-crested Cormorant Hairy Woodpecker Common Grackle Great Cormorant Northern Flicker House Finch Great Blue Heron American Kestrel Purple Finch Great Egret Merlin Pine Siskin Black-crowned Night-Heron Peregrine Falcon American Goldfinch Turkey Vulture Northern Shrike House Sparrow
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary