Summer often means vacation. Vacations mean travel. Travel means new ecosystems. New ecosystems mean new birds. See why I love summer?
My travels with family to the coast of Virginia have already yielded a bevy of birds I usually only see once a year. But one I’ve had to wait much longer than that to see again was Wilson’s Plover, a rarity this far north. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was any of the many Blackburnian Warblers foraging in the hemlock trees around his campsite in the Catskill Mountains. Though there were quite a few birds with fledglings – Eastern Kingbirds, Red-eyed Vireos, and Cedar Waxwings to name a few – the Blackburnian Warblers were easily the best.
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.
Of the three lifers I picked up yesterday at the John Heinz NWR in Philadelphia, I’ll have to go with the Tricolored Herons because they gave such great views, including posing right next to a Great Blue Heron. (Runner-up goes to the World’s Most Confiding Soras)
We loved watching Cedar Waxwings flying high overhead as we sat on our deck here on the Olympic Peninsula. They like to perch on the very tallest conifer trees around. You need a scope to see their amazing features– that charismatic mask, jaunty crest, and bright yellow tip to the tail feathers.
Hmm… Was it the White-throated Dippers? Or the Western Marsh Harrier? Or the Common Kingfisher? Hoopoe too…
Italy is awesome!