How was your weekend? Any good birds? Don’t be shy… tell us about your best bird!
The best bird of my weekend was undoubtedly the Red-tailed Hawk that took an American Crow right outside my window. Wicked! Corey found favor with the normal Forest Park feeder birds after a big NYC snowstorm, like the Carolina Wren featured below. Last but not least, Charlie is mad about the Mistle Thrush that has claimed the yew trees at the bottom of his garden.
What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed in the comments section. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, we invite you to include the link in your comment.
Carolina Wren in search of suet
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.
Two great life birds for me this last weekend:
1. Winter Wren: http://avimor.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-avimor-first.html
2. Golden-crowned Sparrow: http://avimor.blogspot.com/2009/12/deer-flat-nwr-christmas-bird-count.html
It was cold and windy at Bosque del Apache on Saturday morning. Even the expected species were keeping under cover. Just before heading over to the Owl Cafe for a green-chile cheeseburger about 11:30 a.m., I stopped at the little pond right by the entrance booth. I was delighted to see two Greater White-fronted Geese, an adult & a sub-adult. This species is not a regular winter resident, though not unprecedented. I did just now notice that someone else reported two birds to eBird also on the 19th. Same two individuals, I wonder?
Have photos at my digiscoping gallery: http://www.bosquebill.com/gallery/digiscopeGallery.php
Slow birding for me this weekend with the snow and all. Even my feeder birds were hiding from it. I guess the highlight would be the 2 Goldfinches that seem to have returned to my nyjer feeder. Interestingly, I had moved it a foot to the left and on a slightly lower hook a month ago and they stopped coming. I moved it back to its original spot on Saturday and they’re back.
We were hit by the East Coast winter storm and, as the snow was pouring, a large group of Juncos descended on our deck to search for buried seed. I spent a good deal of time inside snapping shots of the hungry critters: http://fertanish.net/speak/blogs/index.php/2009/12/19/snow-birds
Patrick — I think your goldfinches have issues.
My best bird was a Black-necked Stilt on the Vicksburg Christmas Bird Count — a new species for the count. Laughing Gull, White Ibis, and American White Pelican were also awesome.
My best bird was a Hermit Thrush during the Comox CBC on December 20. We also flushed a pair of Wilson’s Snipe but unfortunately had strayed out of our area and into an adjacent one so couldn’t count them!
Cheers,
Dave