PODCAST · science
Weekly Bird Report
by CAI
The Weekly Bird Report with Mark Faherty can be heard every Wednesday on WCAI, the local NPR station for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the South Coast. Mark has been the Science Coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary since August 2007 and has led birding trips for Mass Audubon since 2002. He is past president of the Cape Cod Bird Club and current member of the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee.
Episodes
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Crested Caracara saga continues
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.
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A logjam of birds
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.
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I guess they call them storm petrels for a reason
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.
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A whale of a birding trip
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.
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Migration stories
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.
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Shorebird homework
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…
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Return of the caracara
A Crested Caracara turns up at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, marking the second Cape sighting of this warm-climate raptor this summer. This report covers the species' puzzling northward push since 2020, plus other notable birds including a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tricolored Heron, and a...
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Kite excitement
After literally years of trolling us, the weirdest presumed breeding bird on Cape Cod has finally given up the goods. The huge, unmistakable birds in question, known to nest prominently in the tallest tree around, have somehow hidden definitive evidence of actual nests with chicks in them since…
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Migration at the cliffs
That famous Bridled Tern is back in the news again, this time at Seagull Beach in Yarmouth. But there's bigger birding happening on the Vineyard, where a marathon dawn watch at Aquinnah produced 91 species and some early signs of fall songbird migration.
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thrifty birds
Late-summer Cape Cod brings rare Swallow-tailed Kites and spectacular waves of migrating shorebirds. Find out where to see both before the season flies by.
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A tern of the head
Shorebird migration is picking up, but the world's friendliest rare bird stole the show. This week, the famous bridled tern toured Cape Cod and the Islands before returning to Scituate.
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A tern of the head
A rare tropical seabird has spent weeks charming its way around Scituate Harbor, perching on cars, deck railings, and even the heads of beachgoers and their dogs. Bridled Terns almost never show up in Massachusetts outside of hurricanes, let alone linger all summer acting like a friendly parrot....
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It’s not a falcon
A Crested Caracara, a tropical bird of prey rarely seen north of Florida and Texas, turned up at Race Point in Provincetown this week, one of several surprising sightings across the Northeast this summer. A look at the species' odd habits, its wandering history in Massachusetts, and a running...
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Bath time
It's all about water. One refilled bird bath brought a flood of orioles, a Wellfleet Bay stream draws in warblers and bluebirds, and a volunteer's photos of daytime owls bathing have to be seen to be believed.
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Cousin Chuck isn’t leaving
As Whip-poor-wills grow scarce in the region's pine woods, a larger and considerably ruder cousin has taken up residence: the Chuck-will's-widow. Once found no farther north than Virginia, this bird-eating nightjar is now breeding across the Cape and Islands in ever-increasing numbers.
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(More than) one good tern and other June surprises
Despite its reputation as a quiet month for birding, June delivers a string of surprises on the Cape and Islands this week, led by multiple rare Gull-billed Tern sightings along the coast. From an unexpected Red Crossbill heard from a driveway to a Mississippi Kite studied from a standstill on…
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Putting the nature in nature playground
A short stop at a Mass Audubon nature playground becomes an insect safari full of parasites, predators, mimics, and a tiny fly with a very big name.
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May’s last hurrah
A spring storm delivers rare seabirds, massive flocks of songbirds, and the Cape’s first confirmed Prothonotary Warbler nest.
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The hawk and the hummingbirds
Wildlife photographer Diane Palomba noticed something strange at Long Pasture: hummingbirds nesting suspiciously close to a Cooper's Hawk. Turns out they knew exactly what they were doing.
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Ibisfest part 2 and the longspur has landed
Mark Faherty recaps an exciting week of spring migration on Cape Cod, featuring rare ibis sightings, a surprise Chestnut-collared Longspur, and the unofficial arrival of “Ibisfest.”
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Ibis Invasion and much more!
This week’s spring migration reached spectacular heights as rare southern visitors mixed with huge numbers of songbirds pouring into Cape Cod from across the Atlantic.
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Mid-May Madness
Mark Faherty talks about a few of the long distance travelers that he has spotted this May from the Nashville Warbler to the Blue-headed Vireo and many more.
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Songs of April
Mark Faherty talks about the birds showing up at your feeders.
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Swainson’s Hawk
How did a hemisphere-trotting hawk of the arid west get to Cape Cod?
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April migration
Mark Faherty talks about the different types of birds returning to the area this time of year from the Golden-crowned Kinglet to the Ruby-throated Hummingbird
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Feeder frenzy
Mark Faherty talks about the surging bird populations on the Cape in the springtime.
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Everything’s rare somewhere
Ornithologist Mark Faherty talks about the return of a Tufted Titmouse making its return to Nantucket.
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Winter encounters with owls
What we lacked in numbers of the common owls, we made up for with encounters with some of the more sought after species.
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Outer Cape winter birding
Looking at waxwings and eiders to find their unusual relatives among the flocks.
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Early results from the Christmas bird counts
The first results are in.
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Western Tanagers and snow birds
Big flocks of birds tend to draw in other birds, including any lost waifs from elsewhere. Sometimes just looking out the window can reveal a rare bird in your yard.
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In search of Massachusetts puffins
The Atlantic puffin is a real crowd-pleaser. While people know them as a nesting bird of rocky Maine Islands in summer, small numbers winter in deep Massachusetts waters.
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A visit from two rare birds
A limpkin visited Scituate and a common cuckoo visited New Hampshire in recent days.
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A visit from two rare birds
A limpkin visited Scituate and a common cuckoo visited New Hampshire in recent days.
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Time to talk wild turkeys
Turkeys have a role to play in the emergence of that pest du jour, the Lone Star Tick, and the weird red-meat allergy they transmit, alpha-gal syndrome. You could say that when it comes to alpha-gal, turkeys giveth, and turkeys taketh away.
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A solitary solitaire
Townsend’s Solitaire is the only US representative of a group of mostly mountain dwelling thrushes of Central and South America, plus Hawaii somehow, and are some of my favorite birds. They are related to our bluebirds and robins but are better singers than both.
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Birds from around the compass
A common theme on the bird report is the omnidirectional origins of the interesting birds we see, especially in fall – in any given week we may see lost birds from Europe, Western Canada, the Caribbean, and the desert southwest. This week is a good example, with species hailing from all of these...
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The Booby Prize: watching a visiting warm-water seabird
Brown Boobies look a lot like young gannets, which are various shades of brown, but unlike gannets, they will sit on rocks close to shore for long periods – gannets essentially never come ashore around here unless they’re sick.
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Spooky bird sounds just in time for Halloween
With All Hallows Eve rapidly approaching, I thought it was high time to explore the spookier side of birds.
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A beautiful spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbills are a Florida bird to us easterners, but most of their range is in South America.
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The champion of the long-distance migrants
The bar-tailed Godwit is a tall, long-billed sandpiper that has in recent years been crowned the champion long-distance migrant among, well, all animals, thanks to increasingly small satellite tracking devices.
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Birds on boats, vis mig part two
Back on September 29, a boatload of birders clutching backpacks and sleeping bags headed out of Hyannis at dawn, bound for the continental shelf and its deep, warm water canyons some 130 miles to the south.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Weekly Bird Report with Mark Faherty can be heard every Wednesday on WCAI, the local NPR station for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the South Coast. Mark has been the Science Coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary since August 2007 and has led birding trips for Mass Audubon since 2002. He is past president of the Cape Cod Bird Club and current member of the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee.
HOSTED BY
CAI
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Weekly Bird Report have?
Weekly Bird Report currently has 42 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Weekly Bird Report about?
The Weekly Bird Report with Mark Faherty can be heard every Wednesday on WCAI, the local NPR station for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the South Coast. Mark has been the Science Coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary since August 2007 and has led birding trips...
How often does Weekly Bird Report release new episodes?
Weekly Bird Report has 42 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Weekly Bird Report?
You can listen to Weekly Bird Report on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Weekly Bird Report?
Weekly Bird Report is created and hosted by CAI.
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