How was your weekend? Any good birds? Tell us about your best bird.
My best bird of the weekend was White-crowned Sparrow; I encountered both an adult and a first winter bird while discovering a local patch where half-hardies seem to be hunkering down for winter. Corey’s best was Bufflehead back at Jamaica Bay, where a flock of twelve produced his first buffalo heads since April. Charlie was chuffed to spy his first Peregrine Falcon at Great Chalfield.
What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us about the rarest, loveliest, or most interesting bird you observed in the comments section. Plus, if you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, I invite you to include the link in your comment.
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.
My best birds of the weekend were the Slate-colored Seedeaters… they are rare and nomadic in Panama… and I saw them in two different places in the same day!
I think in common with probably 1500-1800 other lucky observers the UK’s first (and only the fifth for the Western Paleartic) Eastern Crowned Warbler was not only the bird of the weekend but possibly the bird of the year. The incredible thing is that without the internet it wouldnt have happened, read the full story at http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=1784
I birded near home when time permitted, and the best bird was the elusive Yellow Rail in a field.
I ended up chasing the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher about an hour north of us here in Central NY. Not a new bird for my by any means (I lived in TX the last two years) but a cool bird and a great bird for the area. You can read about it here:
http://www.wanderersapprentice.com/chasing-a-scissor-tail.html
I also snuck two life birds out of the day which were more exciting for me, White-rumped Sandpiper and my nemesis, the American Golden Plover. Finally!
An Eastern Phoebe was a first-time visitor to my yard. I happened to look outside at exactly the right time as it perched on my feeder hanger and then on a fence.
Some seriously good birds already…Yellow Rail! Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in upstate NY! Eastern Crowned Warbler in England! Slate-colored Seedeater in Panama!
I’m amazed no one has reported an Ivory-billed Woodpecker yet…
I saw my first bufflehead. There were three swimming at the shoreline of Lake Ontario.
Easy choice this time: a juvenile Harlan’s Hawk yesterday afternoon on the Lower Santa Cruz just north of Tucson. The same afternoon drive produced Ferruginous Hawk, White-tailed Kite, and Peregrine and Prairie Falcons, too. It’s winter in the desert!
A photo of the Harlan’s is at http://birdaz.com/blog
I didn’t get birdwatching but I did volunteer at a bird rehabilitation clinic where the birds of the weekend were five Paradise Shelduck ducklings. They were very cute.
A piliated woodpecker flew in front of me while I was riding my bike. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough and still stay balanced. (no comments on that Corey!)
On Wednesday, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, on Friday two Hermit Thrushes, on Sunday two Yellow-rumped Warblers, and yesterday a great look at a Brown Creeper. These may not be rare, but they were all really beautiful and they were first-time sightings for me 🙂
My best bird(s) of the weekend were Ruffed Grouse. We saw 4 of them in Potter County PA.
On Saturday, Long-tailed Ducks, two males an one female in mating plumage. It was not only extraordinarily for me because I saw them the first time but also because they dived frequently at a reservoir in southern bavaria (south of germany). That happens very seldom among that smart see ducks and than the observing conditions are really excellent.
I had an excellent day of birding/guiding that went from the middle elevations of Costa Rica’s central valley to the Caribbean Lowlands. Best and/or favorite birds were my first MacGillivray’s Warblers of the year, a Steak-chested Antpitta that puffed its chest feathers in and out while it contemplated us from the dim understory of foothill rain forest, a pair of Black Hawk Eagles calling from high above the forest, and great looks at a beautiful Green Shrike Vireo. In addition to the birds, almost stepping on a 5 foot Fer-de-Lance also made it a very memorable day. Nevertheless, I would trade all of that for Amishcountry’s Yellow Rail!