How was your weekend? Any good birds? Don’t be shy… tell us about your best bird!
My best bird of the weekend was an apparently confused Wild Turkey that trotted across my suburban side street, a new first for the yard list. Charlie’s best birds were probably the Great Bustards gracing the cover of the Otis magazine he brought to the printer. Corey’s response to this question is a bit more complicated, as he’s coming off the Bloggerhead Kingbirds’ spectacular showing at the Super Bowl of Birding. Basically, he’s declared a big-time tie between, well, four alcid species (Razorbill, Dovekie, Black Guillemot, and Thick-billed Murre), which, when combined with the pelagic trip, gives him an Atlantic alcid sweep for the year, as well as both Snowy and Saw-whet Owls, Harlequin Duck, all three scoters, and, well, he could go on… show off!
What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed in the comments section. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, we invite you to include the link in your comment.
The Andean Condor from my backyard!!
I am not kidding check my blog:
http://birding-ecuador-responsibly.blogspot.com/
I hope this counts since we are in South America
Renato
best bird of the weekend was a pileated woodpecker
We got almost a foot of snow here in Arkansas and my bird feeders had the most birds I have seen in awhile. This made for some great birds in snow photos which I don’t get very often. I am going to say that this Dark-eyed Junco In The Snow is going to be my favorite: Dark-eyed Junco In The Snow
Northern Hawk Owl in Sax-Zim Bog, MN
I saw a pileated woodpecker flying and calling overhead close by! It took me a second to realize what it was!
My best bird of the weekend was a very poor view of a drake Surf Scoter in rough seas off the North Wales coast, rare birds here! Having missed it on Friday and Saturday good to finally see it, hope for better views if it stays around. More tales of the weekend http://www.thebiggesttwitch.com
Saturday morning I drove out to Great River, Long Island with Ian to again see the wonderful Dovekie. The alcid was found Tuesday in a protected marina in eastern Suffolk County, one of a passel of dovekies that were washed ashore from Monday’s storm, but the only one found that was healthy. It was wonderful, not only observing the Dovekie’s behavior up close and personal, but also listening to long-time birders who have seen scores of little auks marvel at being so incredibly close to one. They are tiny! Sunday, the Dovekie was MIA and the marina was iced. We are hoping it swam through the bay to the open ocean and is happily eating plankton with his friends.
My photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/queensgirl/?saved=1
Saturday drove out to a ranching area with pools from caliche pits where we often see unusual birds. At the end of the lane near the ranch gate we could see easily 100 BLACK VULTURES either circling or sitting on an old bridge ahead waiting their turn at some large carrion as a gang of about 10-12 CARACARAS were walking back and forth or sitting in trees guarding the carrion from the vultures as other members of their kind were feasting. This action was out of range of my camera, but could see fairly well with binoculars. On the way out we saw a VERMILLION FLYCATCHER near the water.
I’m not really sure which of my life birds was my best. I’ll go with the Northern Saw-whet Owl, since I had the best view of that. It’s also the only one I managed to photograph. However, the Black Guillemot and Black-legged Kittiwake were exciting, too.
Best bird of the weekend: American Coot. So many other waterfowl present on the local resevoirs as well. http://westmorelandsanctuary.blogspot.com/
Great to hear about everyone’s best bird.
Some Buffleheads under the Pulaski Bridge.
Easy. My first Short-Eared Owl for seven years.
Best bird of the weekend — well, of the past three weekends — has been a 1st-year male Harlequin Duck that I found on the Farmington River in central CT, in my “patch” just a half mile from where I live. This is a very rare winter inland occurrence. The bird has stuck around since then, affording wonderful opportunities for viewing and photography. Read about the discovery here: http://quodlibet-sarah.blogspot.com/2010/01/down-by-riverside.html and see links to birders’ photos and blogs here http://quodlibet-sarah.blogspot.com/2010/01/histrionics.html and read my own silly poetry about the entire experience here: http://quodlibet-sarah.blogspot.com/2010/01/feeling-ducky.html
Best bird was a Pileated Woodpecker seen from my living room window.
I birded Saturday around Corpus Christi and was really astounded by 20 Couch’s Kingbirds and 4 Great Kiskadees that draped the trees at Pollywog Ponds, Corpus Christi, Texas, like big yellow flowers. 2 Least Grebes were really nice as well. On Sunday I had great looks at Whooping Cranes at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge viewed from on board The Skimmer birding boat. The Whooper trip was in conjunction with a San Antonio Audubon field trip.
A Sora, 2 American Bitterns and a Bald Eagle momma feeding her chicks in a nest on the South Farm Complex in Sherburne WMA, LA. Our group was also carpet bombed by a large flock of White ibis. I’m sorry to say we lost three good men that day. 😉