It’s late summer on Cape Cod, which means one thing – tropical birds of prey at church thrift shops! Also the majestic annual spectacle of thousands of migratory shorebirds en route from high Arctic tundra to wintering grounds in far flung corners of the globe. I’ll mostly discuss the latter, but the former bears some explanation if you’re not picking up what I’m putting down.
For several years now, the Cape has been a remote outpost in the range of a mostly tropical hawk, the Swallow-tailed Kite. For reasons known only to them, they have taken up summer residence on the Upper Cape somewhere between the Cotuit Center for the Arts and Santuit Pond, with sightings all over Mashpee, South Sandwich, and the westernmost Barnstable villages. The nearest place they otherwise breed in numbers is South Carolina, 700 miles to the southwest, as the kite flies.
We suspect they are breeding here, though no one has found a nest, frustratingly. Or figured out what the attraction is to the Cotuit Center for the Arts. There’s nothing remarkable about the habitat. Are they secret theater geeks hoping to audition for plays? At the end of the summer, the best place to see them is either the Center for the Arts or the Christ the King church thrift shop across the road – current slogan: come for the bargains, stay for the rare hawks! But seriously, this is one of the world’s most stunning and graceful creatures and is worth a chase, even if you’ve never chased a rare bird before. Check the web posting for some photos a birder recently got of three Swallow-tailed Kites at the thrift shop.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the ornithological phenomenon we are best known for in late summer, migratory shorebirds. August is peak time to catch some of the likely hundreds of thousands of shorebirds that pass through the Cape and Islands on their way to wintering grounds anywhere from here to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, at the bottom of the hemisphere. I just checked and flights to the nearest airport in Ushuaia are two grand, so these thrifty shorebirds are saving a ton of money by flying themselves.
So bring your binoculars the next time you walk a barrier beach – good choices include Forest Beach in Chatham, where you might catch sight of a big, elegant, cinnamon colored sandpiper of the western prairies, the Marbled Godwit. Nearby Morris Island could produce some handsome Red Knots. Or Wellfleet Bay sanctuary, where you might see sickle-billed sandpipers called Whimbrels feasting on fiddler crabs. Or maybe the Norton Point flats on the Vineyard for some big and loud American Oystercatchers and maybe a few Black Skimmers, which are more tern than shorebirds but are cool enough to bear mentioning. You’ll understand why if you see them.
I’ll profile some more shorebirds and shorebird spots before the season is out, I just didn’t want you to forget about them and end up kicking yourself when the shorebird season has passed you by. Also, before the summer gets away, you should try to catch a play at the Cotuit Center for the Arts. If you do, keep an eye out for a lanky black and white hawk wearing a fake mustache and trying to blend in with the cast.
