Summertime and the birding is easy, right? One sure way to heighten the pleasure of a special bird sighting is to share it at the virtual water cooler. Step right up and share your best bird of the weekend.
Corey had to content himself with the urban trifecta (alt: trash triumvirate) of starlings, pigeons, and Black-throated Brown Warblers, while I made do with the suburban trifecta of cardinals, Blue Jays, and… more BT Browns. This is what a weekend without a birding outing will do to you. Sigh… At least Charlie is on the move once again and has the Alpine Choughs to show for his efforts…
Alpine Choughs at the Zugspitze
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.
Peregrine Falcons, American Kestral (both nesting), Violet-green Swallows, Bullock’s Oriole at Red Rocks Park (Morrison, CO)
The shyest, little Virginia Rail at the Bash…..
Just as we had given up on seeing anything interesting at the nature center (captive bald eagles/red-tailed hawks notwithstanding), a twittering drew our attention to the treetops where the sun was just beginning to burn off the humidity. Turned out to be a whole passel of blue-gray gnatcatchers flitting from one branch to the next. Some grade-school kid in our midst also spotted what turned out to be a yellow-bellied sapsucker behind some undergrowth. (The advantages of short stature, apparently)
I had three FOY birds that I did not expect at the Juniper Rest Area just before crossing from Idaho into Utah on I-84: Juniper Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Ash-throated Flycatcher.
A magical day at Yanachocha Reserve brought the Andean Condor, Black-and-chestnut Eagle, Purple-backed Thornbill, and an elusive White-throated Tirannulet. See post on Blog.
At the Carden Plain in Ontario for the Carden nature festival. A brief encounter with a Clay-Coloured Sparrow was a lifer for me but my bird of the weekend was probably the numerous Upland Sandpipers
Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans, at Sandy Hook, NJ. Oh, wait a minute, that’s a dragonfly! It’s just so confusing with all these posts about moths and butterflies and snakes. Anyway, the skimmer was an exciting find ’cause it is seldome seen in Monmouth County. Birdwise, I had Grasshopper Sparrow earlier in the week, buzzing happily atop a leaf stalk in Franklin Township, NJ.
I went birding on Sunday to middle elevation forests near San Ramon. Little visited yet easily accessible, I hope to bird there a lot more in the future because there was a lot of habitat with good birds such as White Hawk, Black-headed Antthrush, Blue and Gold Tanager, and our best, Rufous-browed Tyrannulet.
I was in St Petersburg Russia where it was still light at midnight, and I saw gulls and terns still flying in the air in search of food. they would be again be up in the air at 5 am!
At this time of the year, these regions have just 2-3 hours of night, so does it mean that the birds also get only that much sleep?
Any “light” on this matter would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
On a QCBC trip this past Sunday a Mississippi Kite flew over our group! This is more amazing as it is the third time we have had MIKI on our trips upstate; the prior two were on trips to Basherkill.
I wonder how long before I see one in Queens, and how long before a pair is found nesting here too…