The first month of 2018 is nearly in the books. At the conclusion of every month, we might ask ourselves, “Did I see enough or well enough these past weeks?” With hope, our answers improve with every month.
I saw nothing this weekend I hadn’t seen earlier in January, but White-winged Scoters earn respect every time they turn up. The common scoters of Lake Ontario, these seaducks bring a strong, dark presence to our winter shores. Corey had a wonderful weekend of birding, hitting a variety of spots across Queens on Saturday and then leading a New York City Audubon field trip looking for ducks in central Queens on Sunday. But of all of the many species he spotted none gave him more satisfaction than the Red-necked Grebe he found at Jacob Riis Park, hiding amid a flock of scaup. It was his first in Queens in two years and easily his Best Bird of the Weekend.
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.
I encountered a Great Tit in Heidelberg with a very peculiar song. The vocalizations of this species are notoriously varied, but that song was completely odd, sounding like a duett. Very beautiful.
I led a blue ridge young birders field trip to Dutch Gap conservation area, in Virginia. Our best bird was ndoubtedly a continuing brant in Nottoway County (the second VA piedmont record), But we also found an Iceland gull near Richmond and some blue winged teal at Dutch Gap.