How was your weekend? No really, tell me. I’m trying out a new weekly post idea to close the loop, so to speak, that opens with my query every Thursday about where you’re birding this weekend. Now the weekend is over and many of you have gone birding. So what did you see? Since we don’t have anything like a water cooler around which we can share our weekend sightings, this will have to suffice!
My best bird of the weekend was a Common Merganser, or actually a flock of them perched on a raft in Lake Skaneatles in New York’s Finger Lakes. Corey’s best bird of the weekend was probably the Whimbrel photographed below at Sagg Pond in Suffolk County, NY. However, unable to play favorites, he also adored three Black Terns, a Saltmarsh Sparrow, and a Cory’s Shearwater. Charlie flew into Delhi over the weekend so I imagine the last bulbul, crow, or swift he spotted out the window before falling into an exhausted slumber was his fave.
Whimbrel at Sagg Pond, Suffolk County, NY
What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us about the rarest, loveliest, or most interesting bird you observed in the comments section. Plus, if you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, I invite you to include the link in your comment. (Please also feel free to let me know if you find this idea at all interesting as a regular Monday morning ritual!)
Best bird of the weekend was unquestionably the male Common Crossbill that landed on a bare tree close to the track and was confiding and unafraid enough to allow some good close images before dropping to drink in a water filled ditch. After two early morning visits and several miles on foot trying to get a picture of one it was pure satisfaction.
Mike, surely Corey’s Shearwater was Corey’s best bird of the weekend?
This is yet again a very nice idea of yours!
My best bird was actually two birds, and both were apparently migrating Eurasian Sparrowhawks. They are not much more special than Sharpies are in most of the US but I interpret them as signs that raptor migration – just about the only exciting aspect there is to birding locally around Heidelberg -is well on its way.
Though not rare, it was a surprise and a delight to see – an early migrating Western Tanager in all his finery. The “icing” on a very nice bird walk “cake” in the Corrales Bosque, NM.
Found an Egyptian Goose in Bayonne, of all places. Not a countable bird, but interesting just the same.
Well, it’s technically still my weekend today….not a vagrant by any means, but I was pretty happy this morning about a friendly Blue-headed Vireo that decided to hang out with me and sing for a while…..I haven’t seen one in a few years (in south Texas), and I don’t remember the last time I heard one sing. They are quite good looking compared to their other solitary cousins!
The best birding was my Friday morning tour to Willcox, where among 53 species we found two Marbled Godwits and dozens of adult Baird’s Sandpipers–and another 20 shorebird species. Not bad for the desert in July! I’ve got a couple of photos up at http://birdaz.com/blog
I meant to write “another 10 shorebird species,” of course. Sorry.
I did some birding along the South Fork of the Payette River near Banks, Idaho on Friday morning – birding while white-water rafting is kind of cool. Later that day I was able to go birding with my father-in-law and birding mentor at the Dry Lakes area south of Nampa. The best birds had to be the American Dippers along the river. They’re always around, but how often do we really get to see them?
My best bird over the weekend was a Western Spindalis… A couple on their honeymoon visiting the Everglades National Park reported seeing a male and a female in Long Pine Key campground. Had to check it out and get a few photos. I have been really fortunate to see at least one every year for the last 5 years…. Living in south Florida offers a lot of great opportunities.
http://www.birdaday.net
I loved seeing a hunting white-tailed kite at Elkhorn Slough on Sunday. What a spectacular bird…
I was in Central Pennsylvania where my insane friend was doing a 101 mile mountain bike race. The night before, while waiting for another friend outside a restaurant in Millheim, PA, a juvenile Bald Eagle flew right over the little village.
On Monday (yes, it was a statutory holiday here and therefore part of the weekend) I saw a Ruffed Grouse on the Blackwall Meadows road in Manning Park, British Columbia. We jammed on the brakes and then it walked (well, it travelled by foot, you couldn’t really call it walking though, maybe you’d call it tittuping or something) in front of the car. I haven’t seen a Ruffed Grouse for years and haven’t ever seen one as well as that.