Even during this seeming summer lull, there are birds on the move, migrating. Every time the wind direction blows from the northwest, it will deliver southbound shorebirds to Cape and Island shores. There are many excellent locales to view migrant shorebirds. Far and away the best place to see this recurring phenomenon are the miles of beaches and flats at the confluence on the Atlantic Ocean and Nantucket Sound, the barrier beach and flats that comprise South Beach and the Monomoy Islands off the Town of Chatham.
Located off the “elbow” of Cape Cod, these spectacular tidal flats are utilized by tens of thousands of migrant shorebirds. These birds have an uncanny ability to find the same location during migration and will concentrate at the same spots, at the same date, year after year. Globe-trotters is an apt description of these supremely fit highly evolved birds. They are the longest distance and fastest migrant species on the earth.
