Last week, I mentioned how odd the weather has been around here. By odd, of course, I mean absolutely lovely. I know these patterns are atypical for western New York. I’m still curious about what my fellow naturalists have noticed: has the weather been odd by you? How so?
Enough phenology… let’s get down to some field ornithology! My Best Bird of the Weekend™ had to be White-breasted Nuthatch. These tasteful treehuggers are no strangers to my bird feeders, but I much enjoy them out on the hiking trail, which is where I found them yesterday. Though he could have chosen the drake Eurasian Wigeon that is still hanging around the East Pond of Jamaica Bay, Corey feels that the best birds of his weekend were the host of Ruddy Ducks that came in close for digiscoping (he’s on a bit of an Autumn ducks kick!) What do you think?
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.
Thankfully a fine Crested Tit in Heidelberg/Germany helped me get over the fact that our neighbourhood is being invaded again, as in the previous winter, by those annoying, boring, who-needs-them-anyway Haw- and Bullfinches. Corey, aren’t you glad you missed both on your trips to Germany? 😉
@Jochen: Maybe I can make up for it in May, if plans go as I hope…
@Corey: oh yeah? Like the last time you were at Frankfurt for an entire day and did crappy, crappy birding at parking lots around the airport instead of informing your buddy who lives just an hour’s drive away and who could have taken you to one of the prime birding areas of Germany or shown you Eagle Owls etc.?
Is that you plan again?! 🙂
Limited birding during a family trip to the Caribbean lowlands around Rio Frio, Costa Rica turned up a beautiful Chestnut-colored Woodpecker. No Snowy Cotinga for 2011 yet!
We went to Southeastern Ohio this weekend. I was hoping to see lots of birds, but mostly saw chickadees and vultures, UNTIL I spotted a pair of pileated woodpeckers out in the woods behind our cabin. I am still awed by these birds as they were really rare when I was growing up!
We didn’t have any hoped-for rarities on Grand Isle, Louisiana, but we did eke out 90 species, including this little male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
A young Peregrine chasing Barnacle geese without any luck. He was chasing them round and round and it looked more like practice than an actual hunt. Fun to watch though! This was outside Lund, in the south of Sweden. It has been unseasonably warm and no snow yet, so a lot of birds still lingers around instead of heading south!
We snuck in a flying visit to Montezuma NWR while taking our kid on college tours. Dozens of Tundra Swans, hundreds of Snow Geese, and SIXTEEN Sandhill Cranes!
Much as I pine for the Sonoran desert, I was moved to see the first American Tree Sparrow of the winter at Sandy Hook, NJ. Also lots of Northern Gannets, Bonaparte’s Gulls, and Snow Buntings, but there’s just something about a sparrow!
The best bird of my weekend would have to be two birds that are rarely, if ever, seen in association in my little area of the world. Not only was there a lone Tundra Swan on the Bow River, here in Calgary, AB, but less than 100 meters away were a pair of male Harlequin ducks. This is my first real winter of serious birding with people who know where to go to see the best and most interesting birds, so I’ve seen a ton of birds that overwinter here that I’ve never noticed before.
It is mid-November. Thanksgiving is the just around the corner. Already had 10” of snow. This is not the season for hummingbirds in NY, particularly not this one – a Rufous Hummingbird. It has been visiting Lenoir Preserve in Yonkers, NY.
This is a good bird for this weekend for two reasons. The first, of course, is the time of the year. It is too late for hummingbirds. The second reason, however, is more unusual. Rufous Hummingbirds are west coast birds that normally bred in Oregon, Washington state, and British Columbia. Most migrate south to Mexico for the winter. This one appears to have headed east to NYC, not south.
While rare, this is not the first appearance in NY. 9 years ago another Rufous was found in the same location. It even returned the following year. Could this bird be the offspring of that bird? Like father, like son?
2 northern shrikes (one friday, one sunday), I found in my town (Ann Arbor, Michigan), after 4 years of complete drought for this species.
But I wish I could have been in the michigan upper peninsula for the mega rarity of the year (Lucy’s Warbler, first state record). Oh, but I forgot, I am not a twitcher….