Valentine’s Day on a Sunday delivers the perfect weekend for everyone who identifies as both a bird lover and a lovebird. Hope you made the most of it!
I thought for sure that Wild Turkeys on the wing would be the highlight of my birding weekend, but that we before I came upon a Barred Owl in broad daylight perched on a power line in Alma, NY. Apparently, this winter warrior has hunted the same farm field from the same vantage point for a couple of weeks now. Corey got out both mornings of the weekend, but his best outing by far was at Breezy Point on Saturday morning. He joined his pal Meryl who spotted a previously reported light morph Rough-legged Hawk as soon as she arrived and then, as they were leaving, she spotted a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk. Seeing one in Queens is impressive but seeing two was mind-blowing! Before Saturday Corey had only seen two in Queens ever, one in 2013 and one in 2015.
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.
Scaly-Throated Honeyguide
Heavy snow made birding a window watching affair after Friday, but just as the snow arrived I chased my Pierce County first White-breasted Nuthatch at a feeder in Graham.
Here on the Olympic Peninsula we had snow, and four gorgeous Varied Thrush moved into our garden. We rarely see them in our garden, and two males spent almost two full days hanging out in trees (occasionally one chased the other away) with visits from another male and one female. They were all intimidated by a female Northern Flicker who dominated the suet.
A Colima Warbler is always a great bird, but seeing them two times in two different sites over two weeks is really great. And with my first good photo of this skulking species? Priceless!
Having said that, the Varied Thrush is a bird I would love to see someday…