Birding

Best Bird of the Weekend (Fourth of July 2014)

July 28, 2014 by Corey 3 Comments

The end of July is when shorebird migration truly picks up, at least in eastern North America. It is also when a huge number of people are hitting the beach, which often serves as habitat for those migrating shorebirds. If we could only find good ways to get beach-goers interested in birds instead of irritated by them. Ideas anyone?

While others were enjoying the beach this weekend I was enjoying the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where I reacquainted myself with the mud and the shorebirds. Of those shorebirds my Best Bird of the Weekend was a hulking Long-billed Dowitcher that towered over its Short-billed brethren. (You can see it in the heavily cropped photo at the top of this post.)

Since Mike is birding in Colombia right now, he could easily keep his favorite blue bird theme going, but when you see a Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, you have to consider it the best bird of a very lucky weekend.

Red-ruffed Fruitcrow

Mike’s Red-ruffed Fruitcrow

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.

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.