I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Must be from all that shoveling this weekend. But when life becomes most inconvenient, I become most impressed with those who blow past those inconveniences to pursue their passions. How did you pursue your (non-Valentine) passions this weekend?
The Best Bird of my weekend was a partially leucistic House Sparrow that added some flavor to an otherwise drab feeding flock. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend looked particularly nice as he was watching it through his new toy, a Swarovski STX Modular Spotting Scope. The bird was a Grasshopper Sparrow and it looked particularly out of place at the West End of Jones Beach State Park foraging in what little open ground the snowplows had dug up in the aftermath of the blizzard that hit the northeastern United States at the beginning of the weekend. A February Grasshopper Sparrow in New York is, if not unprecedented, really, really unusual.
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.
Since I’m traveling in Ecuador, I’m seeing many extraordinary birds. The best of the weekend would have to be the Violet-throated Metaltail, an endemic species of hummingbird that lives in Cajas National Park, in the Andes between Cuenca and Guayaquil, at the continental divide at the unbelievable altitude of 14,000 feet. I couldn’t believe one flew a few feet from me to sip on a squat Indian Paintbrush and I got a photo that even showed its violet throat.
Best bird for me was a surprise Tiny Hawk on Sunday near Cerro Lodge, Costa Rica during a long, marathon day of guiding 4 Finnish birders that turned up over 160 species of birds. I’m presently recovering from and basking in the afterglow of species overload.
Snow Buntings….and Lapland Longspurs….and Horned Larks. In swirling flocks over fields of new-fallen snow. More in my blog http://www.mybirdoftheday.ca
A Long-eared Owl fliying through the light beam of a street lamp outside my house in Heidelberg was very cool.
My best bird is rather ordinary: a northern flicker, that enjoys the ants in our back yard (lots & lots of them) periodically. Actually that bird is cheating because we saw it this morning. After all the grackles and doves we see, the flicker is a real treat.
I had a lot of northern flickers this weekend, too–they were happily infesting my courtyard, squawking up a storm, yesterday morning. In fact, I’d have to say those were my best birds of the weekend, as well. Although they are very common around here, I didn’t see anything better (most disappointing, as I spent hours searching for eagles, and never got anywhere near one. I did see bald eagles from a great distance, but the idea was to get close enough to take a picture.)
My best was a solitary Merlin perched on a snag in the Simi Hills just before sunset.