July often means travel, which sometimes means tourist attractions, which occasionally means exotic or introduced bird species. Following me here? Encountering exotics raises all manner of questions in birders, the toughest of which rarely center on identification. We may know these birds well, but should we love them?
The reason I ask is because my family and I visited the Bronx Zoo this weekend. Not only did I see all manner of international avifauna, but I enjoyed seeing them. Turacos, hornbills, and diverse ducks were far more interesting than the robins and catbirds scrounging around the exhibits. Seeing these birds in captivity obviously inspired desire to see them wild and free, but some birds like the peacock that strutted unfettered among visitors seemed as natural on site as the starlings and sparrows.
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.
Wavering between Scarlet and Great Green macaws, both seen in the Sarapiqui area during an unsuccesfull search for Snowy Cotingas.
My BBOTW has to go to the Red Kites. This was as much from sheer numbers, as it was the bird. That is explained in my Wednesday story.