21-28 September 2025
Great Shearwater
Late each summer I like to drive up to the tip of Cape Cod and watch whales and migrating birds. Provincetown is a great place to do this, in part because of my friend, Dennis Minsky, a local naturalist, historian, and author. I join him when he serves as the cetacean expert on one of the Dolphin Fleet whale watches out of Macmillan Wharf in gorgeous Provincetown harbor. We also do bird walks out to Race Point and the harbor flats.
Dennis has recently published a compilation of essays focused on the Outer Cape, entitled Peculiar and Superior—a Year-rounder in Provincetown. It is an illuminating read. I brought my signed copy on this field trip to read while in my tent after dark. The book gave me an appreciation of the human history of this tiny town that was founded on fishing and whaling, and which now features the arts.
Late September is good for migrating cetaceans and birds, especially seabirds. And I love getting out on the open water far from land. The coastal walks are nearly as enticing. So there is plenty to do in a week’s sojourn here.
The drive from DC to P’Town, via Cuomo Bridge across the Hudson, takes 11.5 hours. I departed at 6:15AM and arrived at 5:45PM. Two meal stops made it all possible. Connecticut Turnpike, as always, is a disappointing slog, with many slowdowns. Crossing Bourne Bridge onto the Cape was the highlight, and the Orleans Roundabout was sweet, knowing I was on the home stretch.
I always camp at the Dune’s Edge Campground, a brief bike ride from the wharf downtown—very convenient! The campground is piney woods and each morning I am gently awakened by the tinny squeaks of the conifer-loving Red-breasted Nuthatches that live there. This campground is owned and managed by the Trustees, a nonprofit that works to conserve green spaces across rural Massachusetts. They rescued the plot that includes the Dune’s Edge when it was offered for commercial development. This is one of the sweetest campgrounds I have ever camped in—from this base I can bicycle to the Province Lands National Seashore, Race Point Beach, Herring Cove, Hatch’s Harbor, and downtown Provincetown. So convenient!
My first morning (Monday) at Dune’s Edge I biked north to Race Point Beach. From the beach I could see a Humpback Whale blowing about a half-mile offshore. Some shearwaters were racing about low over the deck far out from shore, too far to identify to species.
At noon, I joined Dennis Minsky on one of the Dolphin Fleet boats for the mid-day excursion. Dennis worked the audience as well as Stephen Colbert, getting lots of laughs while imparting lots of science and natural history. He’s got it figured out!
Our best cetaceans were 2 female Humpbacks and 7 Fin Whales. The 80-foot Fins are the second largest animal on earth, junior only to the Blue Whale. Impressive to see such a creature!
Best birds included: 3 Parasitic Jaegers, 100 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Sooty Shearwaters, 20 Cory’s Shearwaters, and 50 Great Shearwaters.
Next morning I drove to the Hatch’s Harbor Trail parking lot and met Dennis Minsky for a walk to the beach through the harbor marshlands, one of Provincetown’s most beautiful green spaces.
The sand barrens produced a Dickcissel, the dyke produced a small party of American Pipits, and the marshlands produced a scattering of shorebirds, terns, and gulls.
This was followed by a 2 PM whale watch with Nancy as naturalist. We had 3 Humpbacks and 2 Fin Whales, plus lots of shearwaters and a few jaegers as well.
25 September broke rainy and gloomy. I watched a young Cooper’s Hawk attempt to catch a wily Gray Squirrel in the pines over my tent. A win for the squirrel!
Atlantic White-sided Dolphins
With the steady rain, my campsite (site 51) eventually flooded, creating a 4-inch deep lake where my tent was situated. This required a wholesale move to site 46 which was better drained. Luckily there was a break in the rain in the early PM that allowed this move.
26 September I met Dennis early on the East End of town and we walked the harbor flats on both sides of the giant breakwater. We located a pair of Hudsonian Godwits, which made our morning.
Dennis Minsky walking the harbor flats where we sound the godwits...
The low point of the day was a nasty tumble I sustained when trying to ascend to the top of the breakwater in order to escape the rising tide (I was carrying a camera and long lens, binoculars, and my iPhone). Slipping on the algae-encrusted granite boulders, I ended up in the water, the equipment banged up and myself banged up (left ribs and hip) and bloodied (right leg). Dennis had warned me to stay away from the jetty!
(looks worse than it was!)
On Saturday, I walked the Hatch’s Harbor Trail early, moving gingerly with my various contusions. Best birds: Lincoln’s Sparrow, Northern Waterthrush, and White-rumped Sandpipers.
White-rumped Sandpiper
Dined at the Beachcomber’s Club with Dennis Saturday night. I was home in Bethesda by 5:45PM on Sunday evening. Bonus images follow....
close-up of Fin Whale
Bruce,
ReplyDeleteI delighted in the photos, your commentary and your style of traveling. I also love birding by bike.
I’m currently traveling in Morocco (after a birding tour) where I learned a lot about the shearwaters. I spent plenty of time sailing on open waters with Bucky before I became a birder, and now realize I must have seen (but not identified ) many shearwaters in my past. I hope to see more. Your photo of all four was phenomenal.
Plus, I got to see Bar-tailed Godwits! Your reputation extends all the way to South Africa, (where our tour guide was from).
Keep on truckin’
Francie R-M