As August comes rushing to a close, the doldrums of the last few weeks have already started to give way to a new mass movement of birds. Move with them!
Late summer in many parts of the U.S. usually signals shorebird migration, which, in turn, signals whatever passes for excitement when people see shorebirds. All the best birds in my corner of New York over the last few months have been shorebirds, which explains why I dragged myself once again to Rochester’s fabled East Spit to bag a rare local Baird’s Sandpiper. Not only did I pick up that little brown job, but I found plenty more species that looked verrrry much like it. Good times! Corey is loving the California birds but his Best Bird of the Weekend was a bird that doesn’t really belong in southern California. He chased a Ruff on the Santa Ana River in Anaheim and such a cool vagrant automatically beat out other great birds like California Gnatcatcher to take his top spot for the weekend.
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.
Shorebirds out west are rocking it too. A FOY Pectoral Sandpiper shortly after a tough to find inner-Puget Sound Short-billed Dowicher was the weekend’s best for me.
Migration is happening in Philly … I’ve got White-breasted Nuthatches and random Chickadees (we’re in the “melange” zone) singing in my neighborhood every morning!