Birding

Best Bird of the Weekend (Third of July 2012)

July 23, 2012 by Mike 9 Comments

In principle, weekends should generally improve upon what the everyday work week has to offer. In practice, though, some weekends are just more awesome than others. The third weekend of July always ranks among the best of my year and this one was no exception. In fact, I’m about ready to drop from exhaustion because of the 14th annual Chicken Inferno; here’s why…

Details about the event will come later in the week, but for now I’ll tag Eastern Meadowlark as my Best Bird of the Weekend. While I’m used to most of the birds of farm and field in Potter County, PA, meadowlarks have mostly eluded me there until now. Corey didn’t get out birding at all this weekend because he instead was squiring his nieces around New York City. A visit to the South Street Seaport did enable to see a few birds on the East River, among them a Common Tern. Being an eBird addict, Corey entered an “incidental” checklist into eBird and was pleased to learn that it was his first-ever Common Tern in Manhattan and therefore his Best Bird of 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.

And just because we’re not ready to give up on sharing photos of adorable baby birds just yet, here are some baby Eastern Phoebes I encountered this 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.

9 Comments

thainamu July 23, 2012 at 8:56 am
I was in Michigan to visit my mom and the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks on her feeder were pretty cool. Also got a fun photo of a Sandhill Crane at a MI park:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Q5lRqf7-GpO5Z_j8TyYaCNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
Pat ODonnell July 23, 2012 at 9:28 am
I headed up to the high elevations of pre-dawn, cold Irazu Volcano in Costa Rica to look for Unspotted Saw-whet Owl. No sign of that super tough species but we did get looks at Bare-shanked Sceech-Owl and heard Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl.
Jochen July 23, 2012 at 9:56 am
BBotW: as I had mentioned before the weekend, the common Swifts above my garden during the barbecue on Sunday.
Owler July 23, 2012 at 11:00 am
Life Mourning Warbler at Cornell Young Birders Event ^_^
Meredith July 23, 2012 at 1:49 pm
A lone Common Nighthawk over the Brown line El tracks at Southport, here in Chicago. (This is the first time, I think, I’ve been able to see a nighthawk — usually I just hear them overhead when it’s already dark, but yesterday’s sighting was just around sunset so I could make it out.)
Carol Holverson July 23, 2012 at 9:24 pm
a young white tern sitting in our banyan tree with a fish in its beak!
Honolulu
Genine Proietto July 24, 2012 at 12:04 am
Definitely the wood thrush. I seen him & a few others on sat. But sunday at valley forge was supposed to be my big bird day & I t was almost a bust until the wood thrush there sang loud high up in a tree on a barren branch. The scarlet tanager & eastern wood peewee also need a shout out
Donna July 24, 2012 at 5:52 pm
A Horned Grebe in alternate plumage, which has been hanging around Reeves Bay in Flanders, NY, also known as the home of the Big Duck: http://www.flickr.com/photos/queensgirl/7625477910/
Daniel J. Andrews July 25, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Golden Eagle, Dempster Highway, Yukon. Unfortunately, the Red-throated Loon eluded me this year (it usually nests on one of the ponds near the road just past Two-Moose Lake).