One certain way to heighten the pleasure of a special bird sighting is to brag about it later. Step right up and share your best bird of the weekend.
My best birds this weekend were American Tree Sparrows and Mourning Doves, both roosting in large flocks. Regrettably, I observed these birds while at a party and consequently away from my binoculars. Otherwise, I might have identified the large raptor brooding over these birds from a distant tree.
What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed in the comments section. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a 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.
Gotta go with the Virginia’s Warbler (rare around here).
http://nutcase007.blogspot.com/2010/02/virginias-warbler.html
It took four attempts to get a look at it, and i’m glad I was able to get a photo (though I almost poked my eye out in the process!).
Ok, the words have little to do with the bird – but I did see it this weekend and I just cannot get enough of it…
http://countingcoots.blogspot.com/2010/03/t-t-t-tide-how-low-can-you-go.html
Cheers!
Michael
Red Kites – my first returning migrants this spring and a sure sign that raptor migration, just about the only exciting thing to watch around Heidelberg, is well on its way.
A singing male cardinal outside my new apartment that welcomed me to the neighborhood.
New yard bird: American Tree Sparrow. Tied with a leucistic Tufted Titmouse at the Pole Farm (NJ) that led me on a chase through knee-high snowy woods.
A snow bunting flitting along the road at Plum Island NWR.
Kaka on the roof, I suspect. They never get boring.
American Kestrels (and plenty of Bald Eagles) enjoying the thaw.
http://www.iowavoice.com/2010/03/01/american-kestrel-close-up/
ring-necked duck, but I didn’t see a ring. This was a new one for me.
Another Northern Pygmy-Owl gave us a nice look in Manning Park Friday afternoon, and a flock of Bushtits was waiting for us when we got home to Vancouver.
I saw tons of juncos and white-throated sparrows at the feeders after the snow storm passed. 12 Blue Jays was a yard record too.
A male Eurasian Green-winged Teal at Maplewood Conservation Area in North Vancouver would be my best bird of the weekend but I also got some pretty close views of a Black Oystercatcher foraging at the same location.
I’m looking forward to seeing owls this weekend – I’ll be at the International Festival of Owls in Houston, MN, signing books and enjoying a night owl tour with Karla Kinstler, the director of the festival. The folks from St. Louis bring rehabbed owls from all over the world to display, too, so it’s an owlful weekend!
A tree full of 15 Evening Grosbeaks. There is a friend who routinely gets them at their feeders, about 35 miles from here, but other than that, rarely seen in Western South Dakota.