Birding

Best Bird of the Weekend (Second of September 2012)

September 10, 2012 by Mike 6 Comments

Anyone attuned to the roving of raptors and peregrinations of passerines is probably sporting a big smile this morning thinking about the weekend’s sightings. I’m looking forward to hearing about some astounding avifauna on the move.

I, of course, was focused mainly on Eagles, Falcons, and Seahawks this weekend. Fortunately, a fancy fall warbler came calling to my backyard while I was planted in front of the television; I pulled myself away long enough to admire a sleek Wilson’s Warbler. Corey had an embarrassment of riches to choose from this weekend for his Best Bird of the Weekend but he settled on his sighting of Buff-breasted Sandpipers while he birded the sod farms on eastern Long Island, a flock of five that flushed at a distance and then settled, for some inexplicable reason, twenty meters in front of him. Now that’s a good year bird!

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.

best bird weekend

Written by Mike

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.

6 Comments

Carlos Sanchez September 10, 2012 at 11:36 am
Best bird this weekend for me was a self-found Bell’s Vireo!
Meredith September 10, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Storms with northwest winds blew a lot of migrants into Chicago this weekend. (They don’t call us the Windy City for nothing!) I ventured down to Jackson Park and joined an Audubon walk that had lots of good finds, including a drop-dead gorgeous male Black-throated Green Warbler. (http://blog5b.com/2012/09/09/going-to-jackson/)
Mike September 10, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Nice, Carlos.
Meredith, good call on namechecking Jackson the song, not Jackson the park, in your blog post! You reminded me of how long it’s been since I’ve listed to it. And how did you go this long without seeing a BTGR? They are pretty common in Westchester.
Sarah September 10, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Saw my first Merlin, Peregrine Falcon & Broad-winged Hawk this weekend at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. And all on my birthday, to boot 🙂
teri September 10, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Got great looks at a Tennessee warbler amongst others in Shenandoah nat’l park and then hiked two miles in a downpour!
Meredith September 11, 2012 at 12:49 am
@Sarah: What a great birthday present from Mother Nature!
@Mike: Somehow Chicago has seemed much more warbler-rific than lower Westchester. My non-warbler BBotW, then, would be finding a hidden branch of the Chicago River that had a bunch of birds fishing at a spillway: 2 Great Blue Herons and, I kid you not, at least 11 Black-crowned Night Herons!