Birding

Where Are You Birding This Fourth Weekend of January 2014?

January 23, 2014 by Mike 4 Comments

The Bible assures us in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. I beg to differ and concur, as usual, with the more nuanced view of Ambrose Bierce, sultan of snark and author of The Devil’s Dictionary. In Bierce’s view, “There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know.” Who could disagree? After all, I’m sure North America has suffered under the tyrannical grip of a polar vortex before, even though the term seems new to me, just as we survived last year’s Snowpocalypse and Sharknado. Just because we’re coining neologisms to describe this evil inclement weather doesn’t mean we’re entering a new Ice Age, does it? An Ice Age isn’t exactly new either, but I don’t want to know it firsthand!

Considering how painfully cold my part of the world is, I’m watching birds from my window this weekend. Corey is cleaning up at the spectacular Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, which is probably where a number of our readers can be found. Taking in Neotropical migrants in tropical climes is one of the all-time best ways to escape a polar vortex, right?

How about you? Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding? Share your plans in the comments below.

Whatever your plans this weekend, make time to enjoy SkyWatch Friday. Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend!

January 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.

4 Comments

Duncan January 24, 2014 at 12:38 am
Might be worth wandering down to the coast as a cyclone has been washing rare birds up this week.
Jesh StG January 24, 2014 at 4:12 am
Am not birding this weekend. My excuse is that I’m looking for a house. But I do love that peaceful snowy pic! Happy SWF!
J E Moore January 27, 2014 at 1:42 am
This weekend I took my birding to the eastern parish of St. Philip on the island of Barbados. The Plan was to visit a number of location to photograph and document neotropical and hopefully Euroasian species wintering here. This trip was cut short because of rain. I am looking forward to the first week of February and the Annual Regional Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC).
Nina January 28, 2014 at 4:50 pm
Houston’s Ornithology Group (OG) will be on our quarterly field trip this weekend – to the Upper Rio Grande Valley. We’ll be visiting great birding sites from Laredo south to Rio Grande City, mostly in Starr County and Zapata County. We’ll visit Roma Bluffs, the northernmost of the nine World Birding Center sites in the RGV, Falcon Reservoir State Park, Chape?o, Saline?o, and other birding hotspots.
We’ll be targeting Valley specialties like Muscovy Duck, Red-billed Pigeon, Altamira Oriole and Hooded Oriole, but there are many other local favorites, including Green Jays and White-collared Seedeaters.