The dog days of summer are upon us though here at 10,000 Birds we call them bird days. This despite the heat and humidity sometimes making it seem that there are no birds to see. What is a birder to do but go somewhere hopefully less hot and more birdy?

Both Mike and I saw birds more or less far from our homes this weekend. Mike’s Best Bird of the Weekend was the Caspian Tern (like the one above) that greeted him upon his arrival at Lake Michigan. You know you’re on a Great Lake when you see a Caspian  Tern. My Best Bird of the Weekend was a heard-only Least Bittern calling from the Great Vly in my hometown of Saugerties where I was to collect my boy after a week with his grandparents. The bittern was nice but it was even better to see Desi even if he didn’t want to leave to head home to hot New York City!

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.

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.