Not only does November in the United States bring the promise and perils of looming holidays, but it wreaks havoc on the sleep schedules of any of us with children. My kids get up when they get up, middle of the night or not! How about you and yours? While sharing daylight savings time horror stories, let’s talk about our best birds of the weekend. What was yours?
If Corey could spare even a moment of his Ecuadorean adventure, I’m sure he’d rave about some elusive antpitta or tapaculo this weekend. I, on the other hand, had only yard birds to contend with. Just as Nate raved about his nuthatches, I’ll praise mine; my best bird was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a pulchritudinous little yard bird I’ve missed in the warmer months!
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.
Flax are flowering now, so I enjoyed a Tui with a face-full of pollen.
A Great Knot that was caught near Shanghai on it’s first southerly migration was given a flag “NP” in 2007….not been seen since late 2007 and showed up Saturday in amongst a large flock in Roebuck Bay. wonder how many times it’s been back through China!? Cool bird!
Ah, the effect of the beat writers is starting to show: I used to be the first (most of the time) to comment on Mike’s question due to being a few time zones ahead. I guess I don’t stand a chance now, ey? 🙂
Okay, weather was miserable here in Heidelberg, really miserable, so I decided to follow the aforementioned option of staying at home, drinking a beer or two and mourning the RezCats’ calling it a day.
Best bird of the weekend was therefore “only” a Great Spotted Woodpecker outside my window in a neighbour’s yard (one, not two – so you can tell I only started with the beers after sunset).
A garden tick for me: brambling. Which is a pretty good bird for south London. I had the first redwing of the year in the garden as well.
The Hooded Mergansers are back! And boy do they look lovely tooling around the lake, showing up the humdrum Mallards. 🙂
Nothing fancy, but it’s great to have Varied Thrushes back in the neighborhood for the winter.
A lifer for me in the form of a small flock of Snow Buntings.
Posted here
http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2010/11/reculver-seawall-kent-uk.html
with pictures as yet untaken, but confidently imminent.
For me, it was a toss up between Resplendent Quetzal and Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl in the high elevation oak forests of Irazu Volcano, Costa Rica. Volcano Junco was also nice but I don’t care how limited a range the junco has, it just isn’t in the same league as a small, diurnal owl and a bird believed to be a messenger of the Mayan Gods.
http://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2010/11/08/irazu-costa-rica-birding-in-the-mist-this-past-weekend/
Hmm…was it hand-feeding a Giant Antpitta? Or the amazing Wattled Umbrella Bird? Or, perhaps, one of the slew of tanagers? This weekend was just too much for any birder to deal with, honestly…
Best this weekend was a White-Breasted Nuthatch at my backyard feeder. Too bad you didn’t ask last weekend… I saw a Pacific Loon in Oshawa Harbour (just east of Toronto, Canada). Hope I find one next year.
Check out Punk Rock Big Year website.
http://punkrockbigyear.blogspot.com/
The bird of the weekend for me had to be the European Marsh Warbler, not because it is a stunning looking bird but because I actually got to see it and spend some time watching it and ………because I even got a dodgy photograph of the little sucker! To a mammal watcher i would class on the same level as seeing a leopard!!