Happy belated Father’s Day to everyone who observed it this weekend. Just to keep that sweet paternal vibe going, I’m going to award double points to anyone whose best bird of the weekend was seen in the company of a dad or by a dad with his child. Oh, you didn’t know we were keeping score?
Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was the last bird he paid attention to in Hungary on Saturday morning before flying back to the United States, a European Goldfinch singing in a tree outside of his hotel. It was a great way to end a wonderful week in a new (to Corey) country. If, like Corey, I was unaware of the bonus points at stake, I would have declared a Eurasian Collared Dove my BBOTW. However, I spotted that egregious invasive while in Miami during a layover fro Trinidad and Tobago. Instead, I’ll mention the Eastern Bluebirds I saw with my kids at the Genessee Country Village-Museum on Father’s Day!
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.
My best bird this weekend was a mega-rarity for Okinawa, Japan – a beautiful Glossy Ibis at the Kin paddies.
I just got back from 4 days of grandma duty in Seattle with almost no time for birding, but I did manage to see a bald eagle on my 5-minute trip to the park with baby and at the house I saw a Red-breasted Sapsucker, a lifer for me.
I hiked at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park and was thrilled to see my first Gray Jay. What a cool bird! It posed for several photos just a few feet away on a fir tree. At 5200 feet, they have only a few summer months to store enough food for the winter and they actually store food by pasting it with their saliva inside holes in bark and other hideaways. As a result they have become used to people hiking, and are eager for any lunch scraps.
@Wendy Feltham – I am very jealous. I have always wanted to take a trip out to see Olympic National Park. it always looks so GREEN in all the pictures i have seen.
Didn’t get to do any birding this weekend. I was playing golf with my Dad in the Poconos in Pennsylvania….did see a ton of chipping sparrows on the course. They would have to be my bird of the weekend. I love their little rufous caps.
Commonish but wonderful: two Black Skimmers skimming at the Hackensack Meadowlands, NJ.
I led a field trip for out local bird club to Lehigh Gap Nature Center, near Slatington, PA. We saw a lovely male Blue Grosbeak perched on top of a dead snag.
Oue first Beach Stone-curlew for the year-followed by Bush Stone-curlew on Monday, which was Sunday in the USA…so I think we can count it as the weekend! 🙂
No formal birding for me either (counterproductive in a heat wave!) but in about 100 yards of the Chicago River I spied a preening Green Heron and a female Belted Kingfisher flying close on the heels (wingtips?) of her mate.
As for parental content, a bunch of us doing a volunteer workday at Montrose Beach were kept back from the Killdeer nest we accidentally approached by a loud and vigilant mama or papa bird.