October birding can either surprise us or confirm our worst suspicions. How many of you ended this weekend feeling optimistic about your next one?
I acted in good faith, checking the last known location of our most recent superstar vagrant fruitlessly before making the long drive to our most auspicious lakewatch site. Lousy winds led to a lousy take, but we did happen upon a raft of waterfowl sheltering from rough weather. I’ll pick Gadwall out of that mix because they are so dapper. Corey, on the other hand, enjoyed gorgeous weather and a morning and an afternoon outing on Saturday looking at birds but his Best Bird of the Weekend came during a seawatch in the wind and rain on Sunday morning. Any seawatch that nets double-digit jaegers is a good one and any of the Parasitic Jaegers Corey saw on Sunday could be 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.
Wire-Tailed Manakin
My best bird of the weekend was a King County first Snow Goose, actually a flock of 65 flying south over Lincoln Park. I expected Cackling Geese, when I heard the non-Canada Goose calls overhead, and loved the sighting.