Honestly, is there anything like a long weekend to set one’s head right? And what can beat coming together with family and friends for feasting and festivities? Now, on top of all of those fun factors, add some terrific bird sightings! Does that describe your weekend? If so, here’s your chance to gloat over your best bird of the weekend.
Seth and I encountered many of the birds we expected at Alma Pond (on the NY-PA state line) like Common Mergansers, Lesser Scaup, and Belted Kingfisher, but were surprised by a handsome drake Long-tailed Duck in such a small, non-saline body of water. Corey, in his typical sneering fashion, one-upped me again this weekend with his Central Park Varied Thrush…
Wow.
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.
Two flocks of Riflemen. I’ll be talking more about them later this week.
My Best Bird of the Weekend was a bird that I found while leading a birding tour at Stormwater Treatment Area #5 (STA-5), south of Clewiston, Florida. The exotic bird, actually a duck, is a White-faced Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna viduata) (Linnaeus, 1766) — which breeds in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. Obviously, this bird is of unknown provenance, probably an escape from an aviary collection, but still, a nice bird to find in the wild alongside the resident Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling-Ducks at STA-5. Here’s a link to a photo taken by Bill Hatch of the WFWD:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1742934&l=d302c37e06&id=1452300618
Mine was rather ordinal but one of my favorites, Belted Kingfisher, at Inwood Hill Park in NYC.
it’s a tie for me, both lifers:
northern gannet, which i have long loved but never seen… i took a day trip to the jersey shore to look for them, and succeeded. my new goal is to get closer looks.
eastern screech owl: i love owls, but had none on my life list, save for a half-entry for a great horned owl heard from someone’s porch several years ago. i finally got my first owl yesterday. such a cute little sleepy thing.
My best bird of the week was a White-tailed Kite. Second one I’ve seen in two weeks. Both in the same area along Hwy 280 near Stanford on the Peninsula. Love White-tailed Kites — such a dramatic bird. Easily IDed at 70 mph!
Few things are more boring than Starlings, but seeing hundreds of them swoop up and down, to and fro in an aerial ballet over Route 80 in New Jersey was the highlight. (Translation: No formal birding this weekend … but sky-dancing Starlings still rock.)
I managed a second encounter with the American Dipper this weekend, and even some horrible pictures of it.
Our best bird of the weekend was a very late, first year female Hooded Warbler near the NH coast, right over the MA state line.