Best Bird of the Weekend (First of May 2014)

One of the many ancillary benefits of becoming a birder, apart from an elevated social status and encyclopedic knowledge of taxonomy, is a subtle grasp of phenology. But you don’t have to be wise to nature’s ways to realize that spring is mighty slow to fully bloom in some parts of the world. The birds seem to be dragging their proverbial heels this year, but migration still rewards those who would brave the bitter May chill!

I spent time this weekend at Firehouse Woods and island Cottage Woods, two of Rochester’s prime songbird spotting spots. Although I arrived with warblers on my mind, my favorite bird had to be a beauteous Blue-headed Vireo. Corey spent forty minutes at Forest Park trying to refind a reported Hooded Warbler without having any luck. He finally gave up and headed home only to find it along the road on the way out of the park! Though he saw more than twenty species of wood-warbler this weekend the Hooded Warbler was his Best Bird of the Weekend both because of the effort he put into finding it, the serendipitous nature of the encounter, and the fact that a whole bunch of other birders got to see the bird.

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.