Wood-Warbler Week has drawn to a close here on 10,000 Birds, yet all around the world the warbler watching remains hot and heavy. Why is it, then, that I had such a tough time finding one this weekend? Ivy and I visited a new hiking trail in hopes of decent birding, but got completely skunked warbler-wise. Luckily, I crossed paths with a Common Yellowthroat in full “witchity-witchity” later in the weekend! Corey had plenty of quality species to choose from as he biked, kayaked, and walked the World Series of Birding at Cape May with the Swarovski Optik Triathlon Hawks; he chose Parasitic Jaegers chasing Forster’s Terns as his best birds of the weekend.
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.
I didn’t see any Blue-winged Warblers this weekend, but would hate for you to miss Redgannet’s awesome gallery!
In honour of the week I suspect I’ll vote for the Grey Warbler I saw. Unaccountably I saw no wood-warblers all week!
You know – I don’t think I got to see any warblers at all this weekend (European warblers). Geez. Lousy Heidelberg playgrounds, ey?
Well, I did see a Peregrine, which is not surprising as there is a breeding pair nearby, and therefore the good old Crested Tits breeding in the neightbourhood will take the cake – again.
Which hiking trail, Mike? New for YOU, or, like, NEW?
As my newest post indicates I’m estimating that we saw 500 warblers(not warbler species of course) over the last week. But I and my wife were at Magee Marsh, testing the theory that it’s the US Wood Warbler Capital. My newest post shows about half the field sketches I did there. I’ll put the rest up today or tomorrow. Given all we saw I’d say that most likely the male Bay-breasted was our favorite, because we see it in spring so infrequently and because it’s just so striking. Of course there were the Cape Mays, and also the Prothonotary Warblers, at least 3-4 separate one seen numerous times and just as splendid every time!
I doubt we’ll ever see warblers like this again. Though we can always hope. I should add that we both spent an hour, along with about 50 others trying to see a Connecticut that was right in front of us. Thanks to the heroic dedication of some who kept pointing out where the bird was we finally saw him. It was a great pleasure to see this lifer. But for beauty I’d stick with Bay-breasted, Cape May and Prothonotary.
@Deb, sorry to mislead you like that. Corbett’s Glen certainly isn’t new for us in Rochester, but apparently migrating warblers haven’t heard of it, or at least the section I was on! When am I going to see you and the girls out there? If you’re interested, the best spring birding is up at Firehouse Woods and Island Cottage.
@Ken, sounds phenomenal. Magee Marsh really is something special, isn’t it?
Almost didn’t see my best bird of the weekend. We were about to head home from Magee Marsh after lunch, but for some reason decided to hit the boardwalk one last time since Magee seemed more appealing than our house in Lansing. 50 yards into the boardwalk our life Mourning Warbler popped out and danced for us for about 20 minutes. This proves my theory that when faced with a choice of going home or going birding you ALWAYS go birding.
No Wood Warblers for me, alas, but did see a striking White-winged Dove on the fron of a California Fan Palm at the Coachella Valley Preserve near Palm Springs CA. Then there were those Hooded Orioles….
Red Knot. Or Curlew Sandpiper. I’m not really sure.
I don’t think I saw a single wood warbler, but I did hear a Common Yellowthroat. I was more focused on shorebirds.
@Ken and Kirby Adams: massively jealous of you both!
Sadly for this weekend, wind + rain + dismal temps = birding FAIL. I was so looking forward to checking out the Magic Hedge. 🙁 Will give it the old college try on the upcoming weekend, then.
The best I got — and it isn’t much — is this morning, a male American Goldfinch picking on the pavement among some Rock Doves and House Sparrows. Not a warbler, but the only non-mundane bird in my travels.
OK, the weekend is over but I was happy to see the female painted bunting today–I’ve been seeing the male in my backyard everyday for a couple weeks.
It’s a tough choice between the male King Eider, 2 Little Gulls, Black Terns, or Eurasian Collared Dove all at Sandy Hook on Saturday. I’ll go with the Eider. I’ve only seen an adult male a few times and this one actually stood on land for us.
Best bird was a warbler, seen with 6 teen birders during MassAudubon’s Birdathon on the 14th at Hellcat on Plum Island: Yellow-Throated Warbler.