How was your weekend? Any good birds? Tell us about your best bird.
Believe it or not, I consider my best bird of the weekend to be the oft-reviled House Sparrow. Observing a flock of adults and juveniles gave me an glimpse into their innate avianness. House Sparrows may be, to those of us in the Americas, invasive, ubiquitous, and pretty much unwelcome, but they are birds and should be respected as such. Charlie’s best bird of the weekend commands respect and awe wherever it appears; he spotted an amazing 12 Marsh Owls in one group while birding in South Africa. Amazing, right? Corey took in mixed flocks of wood warblers. Asked to choose from among his thirteen viewed species, he thought the seven Canada Warblers passing through were probably the best.
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.
Er, well, hmmm … still no raptor migration over Heidelberg, at high risk of dying of birding boredom, best bird was the local family of Peregrines circling over town.
My best bird would have to be the Black and White warbler seen during both Saturday and Sunday’s outings.
Oh, nice topic –
My bird of the weekend was driving to the Paphos lighthouse area here in Cyprus to see a Pacific Golden Plover. I’d never seen one before, but although they’re vagrants here as a species, this appears to be the same bird that spends a bit of time in the same Paphos lighthouse area for each of the last three years in late August and September.
It was pretty cool to see, hanging about with 3-4 Greater Sand Plovers.
Definitely the pair of Ravens who were perched on the railing outside my classroom, preening together. Of course, as soon as they saw my camera, they fled. Sigh.
Red-necked Phalarope feeding in the algae mats at the southern end of Cayuga Lake in Ithaca during a lovely sunset
Had a Worm-eating Warbler uncharacteristically up a tree in Prospect Park. Lots of Baltimore Orioles in various stages of funky transitional plumage too.
I added Royal Tern to my county list.
Pretty standard around here this weekend, though close-up views of a Solitary Sandpiper are nothing to be sniffed at in southeast Arizona.
I was surprised to see a Muscovy on a farm, eating next to a pig. I was driving along a country road here in Illinois. Didn’t know that they could be a domesticated duck on a farm. Hmmm … learn something new every day.
The Buff-breasted Sandpiper I saw instead of a Ruff. Small consolation, but still a cool bird.
Well it was Monday but close to the weekend that I actually saw the Swallow-tailed kite that had been hanging around in Sussex NJ. It’s a beautiful bird and I was able to add it to my ABA list after seeing entire flocks of them in Ecuador a few years ago…