My part of the world and many others still anguish under the icy rule of the polar vortex. What good, though, is a polar vortex if it doesn’t come attended by polar birds? Where, I ask you, is my Ivory Gull?
For fortitude, I meditated on the Ring-billed Gulls that fly unfazed all around Rochester in any season; unfortunately, pondering common gulls might have made my mood even worse! Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a Bald Eagle that he watched (and photographed) hunting and eating a Blue-winged Teal at Viera Wetlands. Sure, Corey saw rarer birds, more colorful birds, and birds that he wanted to see more than a Bald Eagle but the experience of watching such a show was amazing.
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.
This one is for Corey: Black Woodpecker flying over the road near Heidelberg on Sunday.
Boo!
My best bird was a bald eagle, too! I was walking along a ridge on a neighborhood street in SE Portland, OR, about a 15 min. drive from downtown. A pair of eagles flew right over me very close. It was thrilling! They were probably on their way from the Willamette River to the Clackamas River. Urban Eagles : )
Sigh. Jealous of everyone getting out to do birding … Chicago’s temps have been fit for neither man nor beast, nor bird I guess, for weeks now! Nevertheless, while ensconced in the warmth of my car, I was lucky to spy a Red-tailed Hawk as it flew to perch on a light post in the Irving Park section of the city.
It would have been super cool to see a Bald Eagle catch a Blue-winged Teal but my weekend was nevertheless wonderfully birdy around la Gamba, Costa Rica. Since a lifer also wins best bird , I have to go with Veraguan Mango over White-crested Coquette.
My first new Zealand Pipit in a surprisingly long time knocks out the Fluttering Shearwaters.
My wife and I had great looks at a continuing adult male Long-tailed Duck just 5 minutes from our house in coastal Georgia. He’s definitely the frontrunner in the Accomodating Rarity category for 2014. May he have lots of competition!
Weebill! It didn’t look safe to go out with the black clouds and all of the rumbling, but we did and got home just before the scariest storm which dumped 46mm in 20 minutes at home.
A Carolina Wren and a Bewick’s Wren taking turns at my suet block.
Going for spectacle over rarity (code 5 Barnacle Goose) or owly (Long-eared Owl in the Bronx), I’m going to go with the thousands of Greater Scaup that filled the bay at Pelham Bay Park, Bronx NY: http://www.flickr.com/photos/queensgirl/12165882924/ The photo doesn’t do the sight justice.
Saturday morning I was up at 1:30am to be out the door in time to be in east central Illinois by daybreak. It was frigid, and the winds were brutal, but after about an hour of searching, I put my bins on a stump in the middle of field; and the moment I did, an adult male Prairie Falcon flew out. That will probably be one of the best birds I get all year.