Is May over already? I feel like we’ve waited all year for this mighty migratory month and how it’s nearly gone. Good thing those of us north of the equator have plenty of shiny summer days ahead!
I just enjoyed a lightning strike visit to NYC for family and fun, then endured the trip back home. We’re all celebrating Ivy’s actual 5th birthday, as opposed to all of the preliminary festivities leading up to the main event. Considering that we’re also celebrating Memorial Day here in the States (which extends our weekend a full day) I’m tempted to declare the soaring adult Bald Eagle I spotted to be my best bird of the weekend. However, an Osprey won my admiration with impressive aerial acrobatics. Corey’s BBOTW was a singing Kentucky Warbler at Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Westchester County on a family outing… nice find!
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.
Oh, how I wish I was somewhere a Rufous Hornero could be my best bird of the weekend…
(Enjoy a fantastic Rufous Hornero gallery by Redgannet!)
I can’t decide whether it’s the elusive Prairie Warbler that I have been chasing for several weeks and finally succeeded in getting a decent image of, or the singing Bobolink perched on top of a crab apple tree: http://onejackdawbirding.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-warblers-and-bobolink.html
I might have had some idea that a Kentucky Warbler with a weird song had been previously reported at the intersection of Overlook Trail and Ash Tree Trail. But it was pure coincidence that brought us to that exact location…
I tried to go birding at one of our top areas near Heidelberg, but was kept from entering the site by a picket line sporting “God Hates Figs” signs. I am not entirely sure, but it seemed Corey was in the thick of the protests. 😉
Apart from that, lovely observations of Eurasian Blackbirds at the playgrounds and our backyard. No a special species, but very nice to watch.
I also wish I could say that my best bird was a Rufous Hornero but since I didn’t get the chance to go birding this last weekend of May, 2011, I suppose top honors goes to low flying White-collared Swifts that scythed the pre-thunderstorm air with scimitar wings just above my house.
A pair of Baltimore Orioles at RamsHorn Livingston sanctuary in Catskill, NY.
Subalpine Warbler – Western Male may 31st with a stunning red eye! I happend to get great photos of it with my pocket camera as the Asst. Warden had it in the hand for ringing. see photos on my blog…
http://fair-isle.blogspot.com/2011/05/subalpine-warbler-western-male-fair.html