September is ending and with it pass the most plentiful waves of fall migrants. What awesome autumn birds have you seen? What super spring species have you spotted (south of the Equator only!) Step right up and share your best bird of the weekend.
While enjoying a packed weekend in the NYC area, I noticed an abundance of Northern Flickers, the Polka Dot Woodpeckers, frolicking with more common species. Corey’s best bird was a lovely Lincoln’s Sparrow at Kissena Park in Queens…
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.
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.
Probably the amazing flocks of waders in general….approx 25,000 in Roebuck Bay now! We retrieved 6 of the geolocators on Greater Sand Plovers, which were attached in March prior to migration! Can’t wait to find out where they went! Great “by catch” of 49 Broad Billed Sandpipers…..is that a world record!? Hope they are seen in the northern hemisphere next migration. Amazing group of volunteers….some of us were doing 10 hour days for 6 days, so a Queen’s Birthday holiday today is welcome!
A Red Kite over Leimen, which goes to show how un-exciting my birding was… 😉
Well, I had 5 fly-over Hawfinches on a grey day (Saturday), but I am officially banned from naming these on a blog where one Corey Finger has some administration rights.
My son and I on a little hike had a wonderful close look at a pileated woodpecker. That was our special bird for septembers last hoorah 🙂
@Clare and Grant, now that is a way to spend the weekend!
@Jochen: Talk about skirting a ban…but if you get a Red Kite to Queens you can mention any bird you want.
@Daniel: Any day with a Pileated Woodpecker is a good day.
We just moved into our first house (in Ottawa, Canada), so I started a backyard bird list. As usual, it starts with Crow, Starling, etc. On Sunday, I noticed a pair of House Finches on the power line. In the time I got my binos, they were replaced by a Chipping Sparrow, which flew away to reveal a Northern Parula. And THAT was the bird of the weekend (and #5 on my backyard list).
The sunset cruise on Jamaica Bay was largely barren of unusual birds, though it had its interesting moments. (We learned what happened to all of NYC’s pre-automobile dead horses. And I can no longer completely badmouth Robert Moses, since without him, the JB refuge would have neither the East Pond nor the West Pond.)
My best bird of the weekend came as the boat was heading back to port. After egrets, gulls, more egrets, more gulls, and a faraway Osprey, I randomly happened to spot, flying alongside us, what turned out to be a Belted Kingfisher in search of some dinner. A lifer for me! And a great way to end a lovely evening.
Seeing the last of the Sandhill Cranes at the Alaska Bird Observatory here in Fairbanks had to be my best weekend birds. Most of the migrants are gone from interior Alaska now, and seeing a small group of four cranes “hidden” in a restless flock of pigeons was a lovely surprise.
Humboldt Penguin! A “life order” for me.
A few days before the weekend there were two black bellied whistling ducks in the pond. The sun was shining on them and what made me take a long look was their bills which were bright orange-red. The chestnut colored backs in the sunlight stood out also. So I got as close as I could and looked them over real well and quickly got home to the bird book to identify.
For the weekend — a whole bunch of sand hill cranes seem to have arrived in the area.
My best bird was a Peregrine Falcon that dove at and caught at least three migrating passarines, and missed a half dozen more. While it would have been cool anywhere, it was made more incredible by the fact that it was at the top of the Empire State Building, at 11 o’clock at night. The smart peregrines have figured out that the spotlights on the top of the building illuminate migrants- an all-you-can-catch buffet for the falcons.
Also nice were a few cuckoos from the Empire State Building, and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and some Gray-cheeked Thrushes in Central Park the next morning.
My best birds of the weekend were the masses of Green Frogs at one of the preserves on the North Fork of Long Island, many of them still in the middle of tadpole-to-frog transformaton. What? That’s not a bird? How about three Buff-breasted Sandpipers in the sod fields, disappearing then re-appearing as they trotted in and out of the grass?
And, Meredith, Moses was also responsible for creating Jones Beach. He had the sand trucked in.
A tie between the Blue Nuthatch, which eluded me for six whole days before getting it on Saturday, or the Malayan Whistling-thrush, which I didn’t bother looking for until Sunday and found to be far more engaging than its slulky reputation suggested.
I was birding last weekend in western Estonia; perfect hard core birding trip. In addition to mass migration of raptors, we saw some rarities: Black Kite and two Great Egrets! During one and half day we saw 113 different species, spontaneously, without really trying to find all possible species.
Have started birding over the last year or so – very new to this – moved into a new home very close to a conservation park – and the birds are amazing – and they are amazing at my Mum’s place (about 3 miles away) this year. Area: Western North-Shore, Lower Mainland, BC, where the mountains meet the ocean and the river … fascinating.
One day was astounded because of what I observed over an 8 hour period only: saw a Coopers hawk, bald eagle, golden eagle, barn owl, meadow-tit, flicker, red-hooded woodpecker and the ruby hummingbir – and a falcon, blue heron, osprey, wood pigeons and a grouse… in just ONE DAY.. it was awe inspiring… but then this time of year is supposed to be the best for birding here because they converge from all over the North American content to head in all of their various directions. Very cool.