This time of year, avian excitement is occurring ALL OVER THE WORLD! Let’s not waste precious time with introductions or niceties… see anything amazing this weekend?
I blitzed Cobb’s Hill Park for a taste of migration, coming away with some lovely, lovely birds. While spotting six thrush species in a morning–four at once visiting a long puddle in the path–was a treat, I was most pleased to see Great Crested Flycatchers. I know these birds are fairly common and hardly the cream of the migratory crop, but I dig the Myiarchus. Of course, Corey trumped me, and perhaps you as well, with Parasitic Jaeger, yet another addition to his daunting Queens list!
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.
(In honor of Mother’s Day, you get bonus points for sharing links to your own photos of mother birds on nests.)
I added a Wilson’s Warbler to my life list. Yellow Warblers with their blank faces are one of the most common warblers in my neck of the woods, but they are still lovely. The Black-and-Whites with their squeaky wheel voices are hard to overlook.
http://onejackdawbirding.blogspot.com/2012/05/jewels-of-woods.html
Ha-ha! Another easy one – Squacco Heron at Blagdon for my first lifer in 20 months!
I went sailing this weekend, and loved seeing the fat little Rhinoceros Auklets and brilliant red-footed Pigeon Guillemots on the water. However, my best bird of the weekend was definitely a Bald Eagle perched atop a totem pole with a carved eagle at the top. Very thrilling to see together!
http://web.me.com/larryfisher1/Bikes,_Birds,_and_Beaches/Blog/Entries/2012/5/14_Eagle_on_Eagle.html
Lifers abounded for me this weekend at Montrose Point in Chicago. Let’s break down my tops:
* Rarest: A Black-bellied Plover in full breeding plumage was a sight worth numbing my fingers in the cold, windy rain for.
* Loveliest: A Rose-breasted Grosbeak in a tree full of warblers. Just about made my heart skip a beat.
* Most fascinating: Not a lifer, and not technically over the weekend, but a little Ovenbird was hopping along the sidewalk at the busy downtown intersection of State Street and Randolph Street last Thursday afternoon. What a treat to see, instead of the House Sparrow I was expecting it to be!
Saturday was the Pennsylvania Migration Count. I drove several miles, parked my car then spent just about 6 hours walking along a creek counting birds. Then I got back in my car to drive home and have lunch before going out again. Guess when I got my best birds of the day? It wasn’t while I was actively looking for birds. No, it was after I got back in my car and was driving down the highway. Two Eastern Meadowlarks flew up from a field at the local airport, giving me just enough of a view to be sure they were meadowlarks. I drive up and down that road fairly often and in 16 years of living here I’ve never spotted meadowlarks there before.
Lifer Hooded Warbler! This guy: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7079/7168616438_b5044668af_b.jpg
My first Lazuli Bunting! (central Idaho)
I took some people on a tour and the highlight in the rain was a pair of Takahe who were very close and unconcerned. That said, earlier in the Week I saw my first New Zealand Dabchick in over a decade, really close too, so that wins.
A stunning male Black-throated Blue Warbler at the Ramble in Central Park on Sunday
A Curlew Sandpiper in full breeding plumage-why has it not gone north yet!? 🙂
Best bird of the weekend had to be Cape May warbler that we heard and saw at Belleplain during the World Series of Birding. It was not a target bird and added to our list of 144 species seen in Cape May county NJ in a 24 hour period.
Scarlet Tanager, a male and female, at Bosque del Apache in central New Mexico. One of my long-time would-like-to-haves. Just 8 away from 500 in North America.