Birding

Best Bird of the Weekend (Last of July 2011)

August 1, 2011 by Mike 9 Comments

If you love to learn new things, nature will never let you down.

Let’s take crows for instance. Far too many Americans live in ignorance of the fact that these United States are home to more than one crow species. Certainly, anyone reading this post knows all about Fish Crows, especially since Nate wrote about the Frog Crow just this week! I bet most of you can even separate American and Fish Crows by voice, right? I can, yet I had trouble with a crow right outside my office window this weekend. This bird was the size of an American Crow, consorting with an American Crow, and in an area only frequented by American Crows. However, it whined like a Fish Crow.

Have you developed a hypothesis for this puzzling phenomenon yet? Perhaps it’s not so puzzling to you. Just as I surmised, juvenile American Crows sound a lot like Fish Crows, especially when begging for food; Cornell describes the differences in excellent detail. For teaching me something new about birds, the horde of hungry young crows that have beset my block are my best birds of the weekend.

Of course, my unexpected encounter was nowhere near as improbable as the one Corey and tons of other ABA birders had this weekend. Who after all would expect a Gray-hooded Gull to turn up at Coney Island in Brooklyn? Corey dipped not once, but twice in the quest to twitch this gull, but finally made acquaintance with this mega-gull…

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.

best bird weekend

Written by Mike

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.

9 Comments

Duncan August 1, 2011 at 5:19 am
I’ll go first… I counted 21 Sacred Kingfishers on wires while driving around the Waiarapa. A good haul I feel.
Jochen August 1, 2011 at 5:51 am
@Duncan: You are only first because I have nothing birdy beyond a Chaffinch to report. 🙂
Larry S August 1, 2011 at 7:23 am
If you get close enough to the young crows they should have a lot of brown feathers – especially the head and neck. Check out
http://www.moumn.org/cgi-bin/recent.pl?op=showcase
Look at the pic from July 28.
Pat ODonnell August 1, 2011 at 8:54 am
What a mega! Since I didnt go birding this weekend, I nominate the White-crowned Parrots flying over my house in Santa Barbara, Costa Rica as my best sighting this past weekend.
Derek August 1, 2011 at 9:51 am
My 22 month old daughters flushing a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo out of the grass at a nearby heritage preserve. Of course, no where near as nice as a gray-hooded gull.
Carrie August 1, 2011 at 10:11 am
I got the Gray-hooded Gull too, but also fun was being able to point out to my boyfriend a local Mockingbird who was imitating a car alarm.
Meredith August 1, 2011 at 11:31 am
I think the family of Caspian Terns chilling with the gulls at Montrose Harbor would probably qualify as the more interesting bird, but I nominate the Spotted Sandpiper because I’ve never before had a chance to witness its funny rump-bobbing dance. More here: http://www.blog5b.com.
P.S. Congrats, Corey and Carrie, on the Gray-hooded Gull!
Felonious Jive August 1, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Close encounters with Baird’s Sparrows never get old.
Rick Wright August 2, 2011 at 9:58 am
A slightly early female Merlin harassing the feeder birds here in Little Falls, NJ.