A plague has fallen on my house. I mean this, of course, in the literal rather than Biblical sense. Apparently, a variety of nasty bugs are biting hapless victims as they wander wearily towards the winter exit. Stay healthy out there!
My Best Bird of the Weekend was a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk perched outside my window kind of like an accipiter would. Remembering the excitement last time a red-tail roamed into this area, I watched for a while but saw nothing interesting. Corey was on a pelagic trip on Saturday so he had visions of hordes of alcids, lots of great gulls, fulmars, jaegers, and skuas spinning through his head on Friday night. Unfortunately, though the weather was great for the boat ride the birds were relatively lacking. Nonetheless, he really enjoyed the chance to see Northern Gannets up close and personal as they fed in the chum scrum at the back of the boat.
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.
Peregrine falcons – two of them in an amorous frame of mind. I went looking for winter ducks but was more entertained by our resident Peregrines. More about high-wire falcon sex at http://www.mybirdoftheday.ca
Over 50 beautiful Northern Pintails on Marrowstone Island here on the Olympic Peninsula. They were close to the road, digging up invertebrates at low tide. I’d never seen so many before, or so close.
Diipped on the Evening Grosbeak at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago (but don’t feel as bad as the guy there who’s missed it 8 times already), so the consolation prize was my FOY Brown Creeper.
Today we were back out at Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site (El Paso, TX) and saw a whole covey of scaled quail. A little later we saw a couple of black throated sparrows (a new bird for me).
My best bird of the weekend was an immature bald eagle at the Alley Pond Environmental Center in Queens, NYC.
This bald eagle was a lifer for me. Last year in the same area after I packed up my optics and was headed home I saw a huge raptor. I was 90% sure it was a immature bald eagle, but without a good look I could not be sure.
I was sure I saw a bald eagle this weekend. Bald eagle is no longer the one that got away from me.
Hope you guys feel better soon! Best bird for me this past weekend was probably the Rufous-breasted Antthrush glimpsed while guiding in Tapanti National Park and high up on Irazu Volcano, Costa Rica.
Mine would have to be the Cactus Wrens singing on territory at Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas, CA. Handsome little buggers. I rambled about breaking out of a birding funk this weekend here.