We’re in the rough part of winter now, the part that seems to keep spring just a fingertip’s length out of reach. I’m not saying winter has been rough, since the season has actually been rather clement. But even one extra day of February keeps us that much farther from our long awaited vernal visitors.
Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was his first Golden-crowned Kinglets of the year. He spotted them on the side of the road in pine trees near the reservoir in Saugerties while visiting his folks. My own weekend was unspectacular from a birding perspective, though I did see an extremely handsome Red-Tailed Hawk, which was a pleasant departure from the usual shaggy brutes brooding along the highway. The last time one of these omnipresent raptors really caught my eye was in Costa Rica back in October; the resident Red-Tailed Hawk exhibits a stunningly colorful morph with substantial rufous along its sides and underwings. If you’re looking for yet another reason to visit Costa Rica, there it is!
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.
I am bicycle touring Vietnam, so my best bird of the weekend was quite different from what I normally find on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. I spotted a few amazing birds in this incredible country this weekend, including a Little Heron and two gorgeous Blue-eared Kingfishers. My best bird of the weekend, however, was my first sighting of a Common Hoopoe. It let me take a quick photo, then fanned its crest. Quite thrilling!
My best bird was a Snowy Owl! Life bird #300 after birding for a little over a year. I didn’t blog about him, but I have photos on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/mydigitalmind/
I’d like to respectfully suggest you change this feature to best bird of the week so as to include those who go birding on weekdays because they spend the weekend at work.
My best bird was an adult Thayer’s Gull seen at Niagara on Thursday – a lifer for me. Runner up was a Fish Crow in Fort Erie, Ontario.
Due to high winds that held Colorado captive for most of the last few days(thankfully they’ve dissipated today), birding was relatively slow over the weekend. I have to agree with Mike that my best bird of the weekend was a Red-tailed Hawk that was perched on a telephone wire leaning into the wind as to not get blown off. I was happily able to do some bird photography during a lull in the wind at my parents feeders when I visited Saturday:
http://www.birdspyblog.blogspot.com
P.S.- and contrary to Mike’s unhappiness with the extra day of February, I am quite excited for it. I have challenged myself to see 40 species of birds a month, and so far for Feb, I’ve stalled at 38. Due to work schedule, taking care of a family and the wind, I’ve not been able to get out to do much birding the last few days. Wednesday though(the 29th), is looking to have nice weather out here and I am planning a short birding trip that day to attempt to get my 40th month bird. Hooray for an extra day!
a pile of beautiful Cedar Waxwings in my backyard
The Common Teal that I found at Burnaby Lake Regional Park here in the Vancouver area.
These guys occur regularly around here every winter, but I’ve never actually managed to find one before. So this bird would be a lifer for me, or sort of. Some of the popular world lists lump it with the Green-winged Teal and others split it. So it’s a semi-lifer.
I saw a Sandhill Crane at Middle Creek WMA in Pennsylvania.