Now that we’re past the halfway point here in October, it’s time for donning your fleece vest, clasping your hands ‘round your warm pumpkin spice latte, as leaves crunch beneath your feet on a crisp morning, at least according to all the fall-themed tv commercials. But here on the Cape and Islands, it’s, as always, time for serious birding.

Sometimes a bird is not a bird, and it’s not always easy to tell the imposters from the feathered songsters. Let’s take a little tour of some of the critters that like to sound like birds, maybe just to annoy and confuse you.

Thanks to some nice folks who signed up for my Fall Migrants Field School, I actually got out birding this past weekend.

Some old friends and I had a fire on an ocean beach in Wellfleet the other night. It was perfect – the kids were home with my sainted wife, and the night was clear and free of light pollution, so the stars were multitudinous. The moon rose like a blood-orange on the ocean horizon.

Here in our little archipelago, we have opportunity to see birds from all corners of the globe, especially now, in late summer and fall. These birds passing through, unbeknownst to most, often have astounding migration stories to tell.

When it comes to fall birding hotspots around here, the best of the best places tend to fall somewhere between “difficult” and “you’ve got to be kidding me” in terms of their accessibility. These include South Monomoy, Cuttyhunk, Race Point, the Gay Head Cliffs of Aquinnah, and Pochet Island in Orleans.

Each year, untold numbers of shorebirds of mostly remote, Arctic breeding grounds pass through the Cape and Islands. Here they gorge on intertidal fauna and roost on protected sandbars and beaches, fattening up before continuing on to destinations as far away as the other end of South America.

This week on the Bird Report, some September departures to watch for.

Birders who dreamt of hurricane-driven rare birds the night before were instead left in a Tropical Depression

This week on the Bird Report, a roundup of August birding on the Cape and Islands.