One down, fifty-one more to go in 2019! If your entire birding year depended on the commitment you put forth this past weekend, how excited or appalled would you be?
My commitment cannot be questioned after making FOUR separate trips to comb through hundreds of Canada Geese until I finally teased out some smaller Cackling Geese. Things can only get better from here! Corey joined our 10,000 Birds Beat Writer Carrie on a twitch upstate to see a Golden-crowned Sparrow, a new state bird for both of them. While the giant flock of Evening Grosbeaks they found later in the day was impressive, they weren’t impressive enough to overcome the sparrow’s status as Best Bird of the Weekend.
How about you? 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.
I did my best impersonation of Sir Redgannet and used a long layover at Vancouver YVR airport to see my life Trumpeter Swan. I did this by using rail and bus to get to Garry Point Park. They were somewhat distant and among scraggly vegetation, so if I blinked at the wrong time I could have easily missed them. It’s good that I didn’t, since, for practical reasons, that may have been my last opportunity to see that species.
Bald Eagles. They are just so magnificent, and one was perched on a tree on a cliff right beside the road when I drove by. Several others flying overhead in pairs, another on top of a tall tree, others heard but not seen.
Sorry I missed this post back in January. I am very surprised no one else posted this since I saw 100’s of birders at this location. My best bird that weekend (an maybe the year) was on Sat. January 5th, the Black Phoebe in Hainesville, NJ found on Friday, Jan 4, 2019 by my friend and nature god, Scott Angus. (I saw the Golden Crowned Sparrow too on the 4th). Not only was this a first NJ record, but it is from what I have heard, the only record north of Florida, east of the Mississippi River. How did he pick that bird out? If it wasn’t facing you, it looked like an Eastern Phoebe. That is what I would have called it, because really who would be aware enough to think Black Phoebe in Sussex County, NJ?! Amazing! It was also very difficult to see well because it was very active feeding quite low above the water and as Scott put in his ebird post was a “very uncooperative bird.” Thank you Scott for getting the word out! I heard he was considering not reporting it to the masses because of some inconsiderate, entitled birders he expected to flock to see the bird, some of whom I witnessed myself trespassing on private property looking for the bird (it was mainly on state land) and busting a phone pole gate the state installed to keep people who visit the state wildlife management area (WMA) from driving into the lakes spillway. Those folks give birders a bad name and I almost don’t blame Scott for not wanting to tell everyone about the bird. BUT I AM GLAD HE DID! A life bird for this limited mobility birder and nature lover.