One sure 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.
The sweet spring birds I’ve been enjoying made themselves scarce during this last bout of winter chill, but the kids and I marveled at a crow (American, natch) drinking from an ice-rimed puddle. Corey wants to claim a Victoria Crowned Pigeon as his best bird of the weekend but since that was at the zoo, it doesn’t count. Consequently, we’ll go with his pair of American Wigeons spotted from the Staten Island Ferry along the north shore of Staten Island. Charlie encountered his first Blackcap of the year, which you can hear as part of this glorious dawn chorus.
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.
On a pelagic off Newcastle, Australia, we saw a Red-footed Booby. There have been only two previous records in the area. It was a great day with some fantastic birds – and the travel sickness pills worked.
It was a very close shave and a lucky outcome for those who dislike repetitions:
I almost, almost had another tie between a Redwing in full song and a Black Kite migrating over Leimen/Heidelberg, but mere seconds after the kite, a dark flash of “what the heck was that” almost ran me over: a migrant Eurasian Woodcock, probably flushed by a cat or dog from its less than ideal roosting site in someone’s garden, darted through the industrial area of Nussloch (the village south of the village that is the moldy hell of Leimen).
The passing-by’s of remarkable birds.
Yes, I borrowed heavily from someone else’s writing!
Thanks, Carrie.
On a day with about 20 species of waterfowl, our best bird was a beautiful male Eurasian Widgeon at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in Central New York. Waterfowl numbers may have been down a bit but diversity was still high and we had a great day on Saturday. Can’t wait for those warblers to get here!
An impound pond in West Cape May gave me a Black-necked Stilt on Sunday. It was first seen on Saturday and, according to the Cape May Bird Observatory, is the earliest sighting of the bird in NJ. Cool!
Hmmm…
Almost hate to say it, ‘cuz Corey’s not going to be too happy about it, but my best bird of the weekend was the Sage Thrasher that re-appeared in Salisbury MA after having dissappeared the week before the Superbowl of Birding.
@Christopher: You are fired. From what, I’m not sure. 🙂
I had several decent birds this weekend–or at least new birds for 2010. I went birding at Brunner Island in York county PA and found blue-winged teal, lots of tree swallows, a great egret and the first of several double-crested cormorants. I was happy to see all of them
Either the spring’s first Yellow-throated Warblers or the pair of possibly nesting Common Ravens. One expected, one a surprise, but hard to chose between.
@Christopher – Is it the same bird? Where has it been hiding for two months?
Slim pickings in the drizzle north of NYC here yesterday. I got beautiful up-close glimpses of a flicker and blue jay. Also caught a nuthatch (not sure exactly which kind) and many black-cap chickadees and white-throated sparrows. I heard but didn’t see a cardinal. All run-of-the-mill stuff but since this was my first flicker of the year, I’d go with that as the best bird.
The Scissortailed Flycatcher hss returned to South Texas ranches and pastures in abundance. Have some nice pics on my FB page taken Saturday.
Best bird of the weekend was red-cockaded woodpecker. Awesome!
Probably the Mountain Bluebirds in the foothills in my community which were seen while I took a group of Boy Scouts on a hike. It was the first time they had ever seen our State bird and it was a first of season in my county.
A Say’s Phoebe on the beach at Point Roberts, Washington. Haven’t seen one of those for years, and never in the Vancouver area.
Have to be a 3-way tie between the Elegant Trogan in Patagonia State Park, the Violet-crowned Hummingbird in Paton’s Yard, and the Flame-colored Tanager in Madera Canyon…I like the flashy birds!
Finally got a glimpse of a Florida Scrub Jay. Well, a bit more than just a glimpse. He was foraging for about 10 minutes just feet away!
On Saturday, at Chatfield State Park, we saw Osprey, Bald Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, Hairy Woodpecker, Horned Lark, Western Meadowlark, Sage Thrasher, Spotted Towhee and the usual common ducks, etc.
On Sunday, at various locations near Jackson Lake State Park, Bald Eagles, Western Grebe, Ring-necked Pheasants, Great Blue Heron and thousands of blackbirds.
It was supposed to be an Eastern Phoebe(prompted a bit by Corey) at Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia. Last year we saw our first on the same date. But no such luck. And Tree Swallows and Kildeer were no longer there.
The best bird, and the first we’ve ever seen in this part of Philadelphia, was a mature Bald Eagle. It was quite a surprise. It had obviously landed at either the wetlands pond or the small stream nearby. This seems like a likely area for flyover Eagles. But this is the first time we’ve actually seen one. Also saw Eastern Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrow, Wood Ducks, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Flicker among others.
A Rufous-breasted Antthrush at Refugio Paz de las Aves. Angel did it again and trainned a new bird. I will post on my blog when I get cought up with my work.
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) was a great bird to see again but it tied for best bird of the weekend with Downy Woodpecker. I had two males come quite close to where I was standing and it’s always nice to see close ups of birds you’re used to seeing through the bins.
I had a nice Sunday out in the field, which was my first day birding in a long while. The best bird was a leucistic American Robin that posed for a few pictures before scurrying off.
Far and away the arrival and immediate tuning up of pugetensis White-crowned Sparrows here in Vancouver.
The light rain in Prospect park didn’t dull the sleek Ring-Necked Ducks… My first Towhee of the season, ditto with the Eastern Phoebe. Upclose view of a Red-Tailed hawk… but worried about the red-tails who were building a nest on the 7th floor fire escape of my building in Queens.
Sandhill Cranes. http://wrenaissance.com/backyard-birding-at-its-best/ and http://wrenaissance.com/sandhill-cranes/.
Truth in advertising: the pics are a week old, but the cranes were back and seen this weekend, too.
Sage Thrasher for me too. Almost certainly the same one Nate. After seeing it hiding deep in a cedar in the middle of nowhere along the road, only visible while standing out in the marsh in a strong wind, I can guess how people stopped seeing it.
A certain other bird from that weekend has moved on, which is why I finally got out to see this one.
Short-tailed Hawk (dark morph) flying in Palm Beach County, FL near one of the county parks.
I havent seen any swallows in washington state, whatcom county to be exact for years. I live up by the canadian border. what has happened to our swallows. They are excelent mosquitoe eaters. i miss them alot, as a kid i would watch them for hours. They were like ballet dancers in the sky, and kept our mosquitoes down. They were pretty colors, they would dance and dip all over the place, sometimes with mouths full of mosqutoes, for themselves or their young. “What can we do as individuals to bring them back?” I guess some people didn’t like them because they built nests on houses and of course poop on the walls. That seems a small price to pay for all the bugs they ate. the bug population has increased by leaps and bounds, due to warmer weather, and the loss of our major bug eaters. I had pairs of swallows that came back every year. The last pair that used to come to my house to raise there young and eat our bugs, were killed by a neighbor boy and a b.b. gun. there has to be a way to get the swallow reintraduced to our area.