Winter doesn’t officially begin for a few weeks yet, but the birds this far north don’t seem to care about the calendar. We’re seeing all manner of seasonal specialty roll into Rochester. What are you seeing?
When I lived in NYC, I couldn’t avoid spotting Hooded Mergansers, even at the local ponds. Now that I’m in the Finger Lakes region, I can’t even chase them down. However, my Hooded Merg luck finally turned when I least expected it: while visiting friends on Conesus Lake. Finally! Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a difficult decision, as he saw several special birds. But having a flock of Snow Buntings land on the beach in front of him and forage without a care in the world was a nice experience so they take the prize for Corey this week.
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 led a youth/beginner bird walk yesterday and although we saw 36 species in just two hours, as we headed back to our cars, a Merlin flew overhead and landed in a tree nearby. I got the scope on it and one participant got to see her first Merlin close up through the scope!
My best observation was watching two Common Ravens showing some kind of courtship display, showing their “ear tufts.” I had never seen Ravens show “ear tufts.” They are similar to Double Crested Cormorant’s crests only smaller. I’m wondering how many others have seen these?
I found this photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithmwilliams/4404321164
A Merlin, a very exciting sighting here on the Olympic Peninsula. I was with a few birders doing the Seattle Audubon Seabird Survey of Puget Sound, and we saw one swoop by quite close to us.
A drake Surf Scoter, a rare but annual visitor to Scotland in small numbers. It was at Musselburgh where there was also a small group of Twite.
In the Lezírias de Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon, Portugal I had a merlin too, but the two (!) groups of little bustards I saw took away the prize for best bird.