Birding on
South Beach

Chatham, Massachusetts

created by Blair Nikula

Over the past decade, South Beach, located in Chatham, Massachusetts, at the southeastern corner of New England, has developed into one of the premier birding spots on the Eastern Seaboard of North America. The concentrations of shorebirds, terns, gulls, waterfowl, and seabirds provide, at times, an overwhelming birding spectacle. A barrier beach extending south and east from the mainland of Chatham, South Beach is constantly changing and being reshaped by the Atlantic’s battering surf. Although a section devoted to this increasingly popular birding destination will appear in the revised edition of Birding Cape Cod currently in production (published by the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Cape Cod Bird Club), the rapidly changing physical structure of the beach and consequent impact on the bird life, make any description of the area through traditional print media outdated almost before it appears. Thus, the web seems a perfect outlet to keep birders up-to-date about accessing and birding this dynamic area.