Migration stories

Dry-land birding slows down in November as songbird migration winds to a close, but a young Cooper’s Hawk at the feeders is a reminder that every backyard bird has a story. The recovery of this fast, ruthless accipiter has reshaped the neighborhood food web, from Sharp-shinned Hawks to American Kestrels.

An epic wreck of Atlantic saury, a little-known North Atlantic baitfish, has washed up along the bay beaches from Brewster to Wellfleet, drawing thousands of gulls, Northern Gannets, Cory’s Shearwaters and even a Pomarine Jaeger to the feast. Here’s what’s behind the spectacle, why the fish keep getting misidentified as needlefish and half-beaks, and where you might still catch the tail end of the show.

Juncos are in, the layers are out, and a flock of northern wanderers is easing the Cape into winter. A White-winged Crossbill turned up at Sandy Neck, Pine Siskins are arriving in good numbers, and the annual winter finch forecast offers some early clues about what’s next.

It’s a juvenile Purple Gallinule with ginormous feet, an appetite for spiders and no fear of people, and it’s the rarest thing in a Cape Cod cranberry bog this fall. Find out what brought it to West Yarmouth and why the harvest may be keeping it fed.

A Crested Caracara spent a month at Wellfleet’s Duck Harbor, drawing birders from all over, then vanished. Then one flapped across the windshield on the way to Red River Beach in Harwich.

When the nor'easter finally let up, a backed-up wave of fall migrants arrived on the Cape, from Black-throated Blue Warblers to a Bell's Vireo. More may be here right now.

Leach's Storm-Petrels, Long-tailed Jaegers, Northern Fulmars, a South Polar Skua and two Sabine's Gulls all rode in on a stubborn nor'easter. Here's a look at who showed up, where to find them, and why the storm just wouldn't leave.

A whale watch out of Barnstable Harbor turns into an unforgettable show of humpbacks, dolphins, and pelagic birds feeding together off Stellwagen Bank. Plus, a Red-necked Phalarope, four species of shearwater, and one very out-of-place Black Vulture in Orleans.

Fall migration turns the yard into a crossroads, from a pale young Blackburnian Warbler foraging on the ground to a bedraggled Broad-winged Hawk pausing mid-journey. Both are headed thousands of miles south, possibly converging in the cloud forests of the Andes.

The Crested Caracara pulled its usual disappearing act in Wellfleet, and a Swallow tailed Kite in Mashpee just set a state record for the latest sighting ever. It's peak shorebird migration season, and it's time these underrated travelers got some airtime, with a beginner's guide to the sandpipers and plovers gathering on Cape Cod's flats before their long flights south.