Best Bird of the Weekend (Last of June 2010)
By Mike • June 28, 2010 • 10 commentsIn my part of the world, July can be dull from a bird watching perspective. That’s why those last days of June are so important! Did you use your weekend wisely and scope out some interesting avifauna? One sure way to heighten the pleasure of a special bird sighting is to brag about it later. Step right up and share your best bird of the weekend.
While Ospreys and Caspian Terns are always worth a look and a mention, my favorite birds of the weekend were Purple Martins in a martin mansion on the shore of Lake Ontario. Corey’s best bird was a Great Egret that he and his folks watched forage at the lake in Central Park; obviously, he undertook no real birding excursions this past weekend.
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.
Corey’s Great Egret in Central Park
Tags: best bird, weekend
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A 2cy Montague’s Harrier during the lunch break of a business trip to the NW of Germany.
Mapping newts at night I had to keep me entertained during the day, so I drove some hinterland roads through a known nesting area of Montague’s Harriers. [Very silly to map newts at night during the one phase of the year where nights are shortest and commence only at around 11 p.m. - even sillier than considering to look for nightjars in New York]
I saw quite a few harriers and of course ad. males are much nicer, but a 2cy bird is so reminiscent of a Pallid Harrier that it just keeps your adrenaline level up, even when you KNOW you are “only” looking at a Monty.
Oh yeah, and Germany beat England 4:1 at the world cup. Flippin’ great! Nearly beats watching Montague’s Harriers – but only “nearly”!
Not one best but many, though here’s an explanation and first of many photos: http://wrenaissance.com/2010/06/my-world/
PS Klaus says hi and when are you coming to central Florida?
First off—Corey, lovely picture!
I have a hard time figuring out which one was best, I’ll let you guys decide:
* Red-bellied woodpecker spied out of the corner of my eye on the house across the street
* Great crested flycatcher in a small tree in my parents’ yard (house finch, too)
* Carolina wren (only heard) while jogging around a lake new to me
* Bank (I think) swallows flitting to and fro above Citi Field on Saturday (turned out to be far more entertaining than the Mets, unfortunately)
Oh, and none of these spots happened while I was birding or even heading to birding! Which is what I’m about to do right now. Will report back later!
Meredith
P.S. Am heading up to Plum Island on Friday … any tips from the natives? Anyone else planning to be there too?
@Meredith: Thanks, and the swallows over Citi Field were much more likely Barn Swallows. Enjoy Plum Island…maybe Chris (from Picus Blog) will give you some pointers.
Q Corey: Even better! I didn’t have my binoculars so I couldn’t see the coloring. Barn Swallows are Mets colors too!
As for this morning’s sojourn to a lake in Eastchester, NY … thank goodness for the half a dozen Cedar Waxwings playing leapfrog among the lilypads. Otherwise I’d be putting on my “I went birding and all I got were these lousy Catbirds” t-shirt.
Tricolored Blackbirds rule!
http://birdaz.com/blog (no photos, just words)
today i seen 25000, lesser flamingos most of in breeding plumage, 700,graterflamingos, black tailed godwit in breed plumage,erusion curlew, wimbrel,little stint,red shank, green shank,wood sand piper,ospray.pintail duck all type of bird seen in breeding plumage. so strang?
Spent Sunday watching a few thousand Northern Gannets at the colony at Cape St. Mary’s, Newfoundland. I just hope they don’t all get an oil bath when they head south for the winter.
Today’s best bird was a hyperactive Greater Yellowlegs picking around at low tide near the Arctic Tern colony at Renews Harbor, Newfoundland.
Mine was either a Least Bittern or Black-necked Stilts. The bittern was a long overdue state bird that was my actual target for the day. But the stilt behavior was very intriguing.
Great Egret in Central Park- cool! I had some fantastic birding in middle elevation rainforest near San Ramon, Costa Rica. Best birds were White-throated Shrike Tanager (more than one playing their usual roles as “leaders” of mixed flocks), Slate-colored Grosbeak, Rufous-browed Tyrannulet, and Rufous Motmot.
I still need to blog about it-maybe write a post tonight.