Happy New Year! Did you ring in 2011 with style? More important, did you get your year’s birding off to auspicious start?

Alas, for the first time in a long time, I did not go New Year’s Day birding with my friend Seth; juggling binoculars while in a sling would be tough even in ideal weather, but during a Rochester winter it’s foolhardy. So I’ll count Black-capped Chickadees as my best birds. Corey, ever one to press an advantage, stormed out of the gate with roughly 100 California species since the clock struck midnight on 1/1/11. His best bird of a wicked weekend is his life Vermilion Flycatcher.

What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. And as a bonus, be sure to brag about your First Bird of 2011 while enjoying the way other birders have begun their years.

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.