No matter where you find yourself, you can count on a birding surprise or two this time of year. What was yours?
I was surprised at how much I like Common Wood-Pigeons, first spotted out the window of my London lodging. Sure, I’ve seen about 50 more in my first day in the UK, but I enjoy getting to know these docile brutes. Corey got out and about in Queens on both Saturday and Sunday morning. He saw a bunch of new birds for the year but the best was easily a surprise American Bittern at a vernal pool in heavily wooded Cunningham Park. This out-of-place bittern was easily 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.
For me, the best birds this weekend were a pair of williamson’s sapsuckers. After multiple failed attempts I finally found them! 🙂
First common swifts of the year!
All of a sudden we have a whole bunch of calling White-throated Sparrows hanging around. Ummmm, don’t you guys need to get north like, now?
As a novice, non-competitive birder here in NYC, I must say that the elongated (some are a bit shorter), almost meditative whistle-song of the White-throated is by far the most entrancing sound I’ve heard yet from a bird.
Fifteen Whimbrels on the beach here on the Olympic Peninsula. I’d never seen so many before!
Getting a new lifer in the form of a Hermit Warbler up in Florida Canyon!
We have a couple of White-throated Sparrows down here in Arizona,. but they are still pretty uncommon.