Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas Bird Count! That’s right… the yule birding season is officially upon us, which means a lot of dedicated citizen scientists saw a lot of birds this weekend. Can’t wait to hear your reports.
Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a surprising find on the Queens County Christmas Bird Count, which was held yesterday. He was very pleased to finally get Eastern Screech-Owl on his Queens list when one responded to tape in central Queens. Even better, it was the first in eight years on the Queens County Christmas Bird Count! Mike was on the road celebrating the holiday season, but was happy to encounter one majestic Raven dwarfing puny crows.
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.
A Winter Wren working through a pile of old branches and other debris. I’ve started censusing a creek-side trail and look forward to seeing how the species mix changes over the next 3 months. Read more about the wren and others by clicking on my name above.
Got a Snowy Owl flyby at Sunset after dipping on Barn, Great-Horned, Short-earned, Long-eared, Screech throughout the weekend. But it was outside our assigned CBC area, alas. But a nice consolation prize!
Two sightings of Gymnogenes (African Harrier-hawks) in Cape Town.
A rocky spit here on the Olympic Peninsula with dozens of Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plovers, Black Turnstones, and Glaucous-winged Gulls. With Buffleheads swimming by.
Mine was a Clay-colored Sparrow that I found during the Carlsbad Caverns Bird Count at Whites City,NM in an area I had never checked out before. The last one seen on the count was in 1966! Other notable birds included three Western Screech-Owls, a Winter Wren and a Vermilion Flycatcher that had hid from the guy covering Washington Ranch all day.