Did your weekend deliver the highs and lows mine did? How quickly I went from the dizzying heights (watching the Giants bludgeon the Redskins from swanky club seats) to the harrowing depths (driving over seven hours back to Rochester through a blizzard!) Plus, I missed an amazing bird while in NYC. How about you? If the high points of your weekend included birding, share your best bird here.
I suppose my best birds were my first ABA Cave Swallows at a water treatment plant off Lake Ontario, but I actually found a large mixed flock of American and Fish Crows in Westchester more interesting… do they often flock up together? However, I was so busy with crow-watching and other activities while in the NYC metro area that I couldn’t join Corey in chasing New York State’s first Hermit Warbler.
Corey bests me in weekend birding yet again…
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.
Funny how Cave Swallows in the NE aren’t really all that exciting anymore.
My most memorable birding experience was a pair of (invasive) Egyptian Geese on a snow-covered field along the railroad track from Heidelberg to Offenburg, Germany.
I know the species quite well from my time in Africa, and thus associate it with waterholes in open savannahs, constantly honking away at the elephants or whatever large mammal may approach for a drink. To see them here in Germany is already strange enough by itself, but to find them on a snow-covered farm field was nothing short of surreal.
Mike, you will often find American and Fish Crows together, particularly in winter roosts which, at least in Pennsylvania, can reach several thousand birds. I think during the summer/breeding season they are more segregated.
Finally found some Wilson’s Snipes at Fernald Nature Center near Cincinnati (A former Uranium enrichment plant now converted to a very nice nature preserve). The snipes have been a minor nemesis bird for me, and I was afforded good looks at three of them hunkered down in a large half-frozen puddle.
Best bird of the weekend was a Cassin’s Kingbird at Stormwater Treatment Area #5, south of Clewiston, Hendry County, FL. This is the third year in a row that this bird has returned to STA-5. Last year, a tropical Kingbird was it’s companion but so far, that bird hasn’t returned. However, nearby (within two miles), we also saw 7-7 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and a half-dozen Western Kingbirds. Great Tyrant flycatchers here, south of Lake Okeechobee in winter and STA-5 is one of the crown jewels of the birding world IMHO.
Glaucous gull, a lifer for me, seen at the local dump…….
Windy weather on Poas Volcano kept the birds hunkered down and out of sight but I still managed a beautiful male Red-headed Barbet near Varablanca. Other best bird was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo- should have all passed through Costa Rica by now.
I had two 2nd year Bald Eagles fly by as I was Hawk Watching at Joe Hayes Vista near State College, PA. These were my best birds of the weekend.
This weekend I had a triple-header (two lifers and on NYState bird).
– Hermit Warbler
– Varied Thrush
– Loggerhead Shrike
And to think I was in Manhattan for a seminar this weekend.
The Westham Island Northern Hawk Owl was fun two days in a row. “Best,” though, was probably a Townsend’s Solitaire at Blackie Spit, not a common species in Vancouver and an odd sight right at sea level.
Jealous of the warbler! I had about a dozen Rusty Blackbirds north of Vicksburg on Saturday — my first of the year — and am enjoying seeing all the ducks coming back looking beautiful.
On topic:
best birds of the weekend were white-fronted geese; year tick, island tick and, to my surprise, somehow a lifer – could’ve sworn I’d seen them somewhere before but cool birds anyway:
http://tai-haku.blogspot.com/2010/12/pre-christmas-goose.html
Off topic:
Duncan put up a really cool post about Holocene extinctions on islands. It was right up my street but when I clicked on the feedreader link to comment it disappeared. Anyone know when/if it will return. With references to titan-hawks, giant horned turtles, stilt owls and terrestrial crocodillians you know that that’s a post that is going to get a comment from an extinct holocene/pleistocene fauna nerd like me.
c:
best birds of the weekend were white-fronted geese; year tick, island tick and, to my surprise, somehow a lifer – could’ve sworn I’d seen them somewhere before but cool birds anyway:
http://tai-haku.blogspot.com/2010/12/pre-christmas-goose.html
Off topic:
Duncan put up a really cool post about Holocene extinctions on islands. It was right up my street but when I clicked on the feedreader link to comment it disappeared. Anyone know when/if it will return. With references to titan-hawks, giant horned turtles, stilt owls and terrestrial crocodillians you know that that’s a post that is going to get a comment from an extinct holocene/pleistocene fauna nerd like me.
I had 3 different woodpeckers visit the backyard within about 15 minutes of each other: pileated woodpecker, downy woodpecker, and a flicker. Very cool!
That c: was supposed to be “on topic:” but I’m having trouble commenting.
Tai… – “ahhhhhh!!!!!!” Someone saw that! Ahhhh! Arrrggghh!
It was a mistake. I hit publish instead of save. It’s scheduled for Wed morning. Since I’m away for the rest of the month come Friday I’m getting a month’s worth of posts written and up and apparently it fried my tiny little mind.
Didn’t have time to bird, but some Kaka came to me, so them.
Duncan – I pre-schedule most of my posts and do that all the time! I shall await wednesday eagerly.
A not-bad Saturday morning birding expedition in Yonkers, NY turned up some decent choices. The best was a close-up trio of Rusty Blackbirds, which was a lifer for a few of us (including me!).
We also glimpsed a group of five Killdeer pecking on a field near a flock of Canada Geese … I didn’t realize they would linger in the cold weather!
Mike, how do you tell American Crows from Fish Crows? This has always eluded me.
Very nice all!
Drew, thanks for the info.
MK, I can only tell the crows apart by voice. Fish Crows have a nasal whine instead of a coarse caw.
Meredith, thanks again for the invite. I would have loved to have seen those blackbirds with you all.