Birding

Best Bird of the Weekend (First of July 2013)

July 8, 2013 by Mike 6 Comments

I don’t know about you, but after a four-day weekend, I become completely disoriented. Summer is sensational for the many breaks from routine it affords, but sometimes, schedules are soothing!

One sighting that came right on schedule for me was that of Ospreys on their nests all along the perimeter of Montezuma NWR. Love that! Corey’s selection for Best Bird of the Weekend this weekend was easy. The first Elegant Tern ever spotted in New York State is an amazingly good bird, especially when it is one of eight tern species for the weekend. (The others were Common, Forster’s, Least, Black, Arctic, Roseate, and Royal.)

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.

best bird weekend

Written by Mike

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.

6 Comments

Duncan July 8, 2013 at 3:20 am
A flock of Redpoll on my street. Only the second time I have seen them in Wellington.
Pat ODonnell July 8, 2013 at 12:35 pm
During a weekend focused on finding some tough, key targets in southwestern Costa Rica, my lifer Ocellated Crake barely edges out my lifer Paint-billed Crake because the Ocellated is a lot more difficult to see (it’s basically a feathered rodent).
Andrew M July 8, 2013 at 5:05 pm
A flock of 24 or so Brown Pelican at Ocean City, MD. A flyby Royal Tern was also nice.
Meredith Matthews July 8, 2013 at 11:13 pm
Indigo Bunting! Indigo Bunting! (@ North Park Nature Center in Chicago)
rebecca July 9, 2013 at 10:54 am
Lifer Lazuli Buntings while having dinner at my boss’s house! (Luckily she’s a bird person too and understood why I was excited…)
Hank July 11, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Hot, humid weather provided an appropriate name for my monthly bird walk – “Birding in a Sauna”. The cool birds were hiding but we did have two uncommon experiences.
First, one birder came with a foot of stepping on an unseen Killdeer sitting on 4 eggs. The bird sat motionless as we unknowingly approached. When we got to close it let out a loud, piercing screech. As we gathered round to gawk and take pictures, the Killdeer continued to protect the eggs in the nest. What an exciting find.
5 minutes later our enjoyment ebbed as we watched a Herring Gull swallow a duckling, a Wood Duck, I think. Not as exhilarating as the Killdeer.