September brings birds in a big way. Have you seen any good ones? One sure way to heighten the pleasure of a special bird sighting is to brag about it later. Step right up and share your best bird of the weekend.
I was gratified to see at least one Chimney Swift has stuck around through mid-September and doubly pleased to see it while watching my son’s first Little League game. Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a surprise Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Charlie’s was also a sandpiper, specifically a Pectoral Sandpiper at Radipole RSPB in Dorset! Since Duncan Wright aka angrysunbird was with Charlie this weekend, we’ll announce his best as well, a Cetti’s Warbler at the same site!
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 pair of Griffon Vultures flew directly overhead of a group I was leading at Troodos Square in Cyprus on Saturday. While Griffon Vultures may be common in parts of Europe, they’ve almost been driven extinct within Cyprus with only about ten of them left.
At the Montezuma Muckrace: Glossy Ibis, Red-necked Phalarope, Pectoral Sandpiper, Am. Golden Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Eastern Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl and the most awesome sight ever, 4 Sandhill Crane coming to a field at dawn in the mist.
At the Marshlands Conservancy, Rye, NY:
Best bird—the Common Yellowthroat, a life bird for me (I know, there’s a reason it’s called “Common” … but I’m barely 16 months into birding)
Coolest bird: the crop of Wild Turkeys (including young’uns) that, much like the marching band in the song “American Pie,” refused to yield as I drove out. All the better to get photos of …
A Blackburnian Warbler at Audubon Greenwich in Connecticut was probably the best bird of the weekend, but if “weekend” is applied more loosely, an awesome male Golden-winged Warbler at the Marshlands Conservancy on Thursday takes the crown.
Also a shorebird, as is only fitting in September: a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the wrack on Boundary Bay, Delta, BC. Had the author of the long, hissing, pipit-type call drifting down from the sky overhead shown itself, of course, and turned out to be what I suspect it was, buffy would have been a distant #2.
PS: The upland san in the photo has a really odd look to it; do you have some other images?
The Baird’s Sandpiper that walked almost to the road edge was pretty tough to beat for me. Rick, between the picture and reports from Floyd Bennett on the NY list I suspect Corey and/or Mike meant Buff-breasted not Upland.
And Will, if you think 4 Sandhills in the mist are cool, you need a November trip to Bosque del Apache where you’ll see about 2500 times that.
Or March in Nebraska, where you’ll see about—oh, I can’t do the math.
Anybody interested in a pick-up trip to the Platte this March?
@Will- cool bird for upstate NY. I remember getting them by sound at one of the Muckraces.
@Rick- what was the bird making the pipit-like hissing sound? Red-throated Pipit? A wagtail sp.?
No shorebirds for me but they just dont show up in primary rain forest. Best bird was probably a heard only Sharpbill. Best seen bird was a toss up between Blue and Gold Tanager and Lattice-tailed Trogon. Ou first views of the tanager were mostly obscued by vegetation as it fed in the canopy but later on we got close, eye level looks at this regional endemic.
Pat, sounded like R-th Pipit to me, but it’s been y e a r s since I’ve heard one, and the little creature refused to be so much as glimpsed against the sky. Also a bit on the early side. Oh well, maybe another one this fall!
@Rick and Jason: That is a buffy. Correction made. Thanks!
That is my third mis-identified bird picture in the last month or so. I might need a vacation from bird blogging!
Friday: Mourning Warbler, in the late morning, Alley Pond Park, Queens, courtesy of Eric Miller, in the company of a select group of birders including a rather confused bird blogger. This was my first fall Mourning Warbler and I know I never would have been able to identify it on my own. It’s good to know good birders.
Rick and Jason, Corey and I are thoroughly chagrined thanks to your meddling. From now, we’re only posting easily identifiable birds like cardinals and ostriches! (Thanks for the help!)
@Will, nice birds! Did you see the Ruff at the race?
@Jason, I need that Baird’s
@Donna, I need that MOWA
@Pat, I need that Lattice-tail but can attest to how lovely those B&G tanagers are.
@Meredith, Marshlands is terrific, especially for shorebirds in season. Those turkeys are there year round.
@everyone else, sweet sightings!
In Shoshone.Ca. in Death Valley, we built a small garden hose pond at a local home to attract birds. A beautiful male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER arrived to sample our offerings on day 2!
@ Mike: The Ruff.
No I didn’t find it. At one point we were on Towpath Road and I had just gotten the scope set up and noticed a very brownish looking bird with the Yellowlegs. I had enough of a view to say to my wife “Hmmm. wonder if this the Ruff?” She went to look, then a Peregrine Falcon went through and spooked everything. They supposedly had better views from the East Road overlook, but from there it was a tiny speck in a scope at 60x (or so I was told).
INCA TERN!!! http://janbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/pelagic-off-punta-mala.html
My best find of the weekend was a hummingbird in our back porch orchids. This is Chaska, Minnesota, and others are already seeing juncos slipping into town, so the hummer helped me hang on to summer just a bit longer!
If you’re looking for something unusual, (shameless self-promotion, I know!) I’ve got a Northern Bobwhite featured on the cover of my newest Birder Murder mystery, titled “A Bobwhite Killing.” It’s just off the press in time for fall migration!
@Mike: Yep! Though both days I’ve been lately it’s been slim pickings.
Also, for anyone who’s got a smartphone, you may want to check this out … (sometimes I’m glad I don’t have one!): http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-birds/id343200656?mt=8