This past Monday Jeff and I joined a Wellfleet Audubon trip to South Beach led by Ellison Orcutt.
A short boat ride is the only way to access this area.
Just last year we were able to hike here from Lighthouse Beach.
A long six mile walk one way..
This year its much different..a few storms have made a cut about half way thru the long sandy peninsula..making it impossible to walk the distance.

We scanned the area where we first arrived..
Lots of terns and peeps.
We walked south..
More peeps..
Mostly Semipalmated Plover
taking cover on an island of beach debris..
While searching thru this area of gulls, terns and shorebirds…
A birder spotted a gull that needed a closer look..
See the gull in the water middle of photo..
My 20x zoom couldn't reach it..
So Jeff tried digiscoping a few..
A bit blurry..
Life Bird for us!
Little Gull!


More Plover..
Wilson’s Phalarope

It was a beautiful day..
A few clouds and a nice breeze blowing..

We walked on..
Plovers..Hiding Piping Plovers
can you count them all?
A cropped version of the photo above..
see them now?
We walked further south..
Stopping to scan thru more terns and gulls..
We find Godwit and Whimbrel and other goodies..
Did I say it was a beautiful day?
Yeah..it was…
Commercial clammers..
Raking for clams..
The Loot..
Back to the birders..
Here they are..
The clouds are pointing to another special bird..

Down here somewhere..and too far for my tiny lens..
Black Tern..
Long distance views..
Scopes are needed..
We walk from the bay to the Ocean side..
Looking for Pelagics..
Enjoying the scene..
The seals..
This boat is tagging sharks..
During the next month, they hope to capture 20 white sharks and attach technology that will make it possible for anyone to track the surface activity of each fish on the team’s publicly accessible website.
click on the link below to read more..
Surging shark activity puts Cape Cod in the jaws of a craze / Video
Oh lookie here..
More terns!
It was time to walk back to the bay side..
Four hours go by quickly when birding..

We stop to scan thru more peeps..
Mostly Semipalmated Plover
We *tern* around and
low and behold
Yep..more tern..
Ellisons count on the tern we saw
1 Black Tern
450 Roseate Tern
2400 Common Tern (Common)
1 Forster's Tern
We need to leave..
But not until we pish out a Saltmarsh Sparrow..
Then…Sadly
The boat awaits..

Birds of the Day~
South Beach, Chatham, Barnstable, US-MA
Aug 19, 2013 9:33 AM - 1:33 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.6.2
36 species (+2 other taxa)
American Black Duck
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
American Oystercatcher
Willet
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Whimbrel (American)
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher (Atlantic)
Wilson's Phalarope
Little Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird