We started the weekend in one season and end in another. Congratulations! Do you feel any different?
I know winter lurks nearby, because all the dark birds are massing. This weekend delivered the biggest flocks of starlings and grackles I’ve seen in ages. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a very sharp Lincoln’s Sparrow at Edgemere Preserve in Queens.
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.
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.
Ferruginous Hawk here in eastern Oregon, first one I’d seen in a while.
Cooper’s Hawk swooping down on a gadwall on Plum Island (Newburyport, MA). Luckily for the gadwall, it dived in time.
The first Surf Scoters, Surf Birds, Horned Grebes, Yellowlegs, and Harlequin Ducks have returned to the Olympic Peninsula from their summer vacations. It’s so great to have them back, even those just passing through.
Striking is the drake, and lovely is the hen on the redhead ducks that have been massing here in Texas . Here is my article for this past weekend: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art13652.asp
On Monday at dawn I heard my first Blackbird singing. Spring is on the way!
Had a great weekend at the Lands in Love Hotel between San Ramon and La Fortuna, Costa Rica. We had Sunbittern, Snowcap, and Black and white Owl but the best bird was my first Lanceolated Monklet for Costa Rica! Check out my blog post about the place to see why I think it’s a top choice for Caribbean foothill (and lowland) birding in Costa Rica:
http://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2013/09/23/a-weekend-of-birding-in-costa-rica-at-the-lands-in-love-hotel-and-why-you-should-include-it-on-your-next-birding-trip-to-costa-rica/
Hudsonian Godwit at a catfish pond in central Mississippi. Camped in a state park through a massive storm dropping 4in of rain the night before to “earn” this HUGO.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95667782@N06/sets/72157635783332724/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_hoeksema/9891541953/
I was at our local state park and put my binoculars up to search for some noisy little something and instead saw a White Ibis flying overhead.