The beginning of April feels like the real beginning of spring, at least up in the northern latitudes. The plot may unfold painfully slowly, but subtle clues are starting to add up to a massive migration many weeks away. For now, we can find entertainment in the earliest chapters of the season.
I knocked down several first birds of spring this weekend (not literally) but will always give Best Bird honors to a Saw-whet Owl, especially one showing as well as the one Ivy and I located at Owl Woods on Easter. Corey was extremely pleased to finally get out and about birding again after his family all caught COVID and recovered. Vaccinated, with no symptoms and negative tests to boot, Corey got to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and was very relieved that the previously reported Progne martin was still present, on its fourth day. Consensus is forming that the bird is a Gray-breasted Martin, a rarity that isn’t expected even in south Texas, much less New York. Whatever species it turns out to be it is Corey’s 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.
10 Whimbrel, uncommon for Pierce County, WA showed up just a couple of miles from my home in N. Tacoma at Dune Park. Charlie Wright, keen local birder found them and reached out to the local group so we all got to enjoy before dark last night. By far the highest count for me in the county and a FOY bird for WA.