Now that the rush to populate your 2011 year list has subsided (or never truly inflamed you to begin with) birding becomes a little easier and possibly even more enjoyable. I was able to resist the siren song of a year list this annum, which places the emphasis of my birding excursions squarely on the bird in front of me as opposed to the tick on the page it represents. That purity of intent no doubt steered a spectacular dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk into my path twice this weekend… what a looker!

Corey, on the other hand, has been gripped with a terrifying greed for year birds so profound than ever. He’ll stop at nothing to add a new species to his 2011 list, so allegations that he staged a sighting of Tufted Duck in Cold Spring Harbor, NY possibly by “arranging” an escape from a local aviary or commissioning a state-of-the-art animatronic decoy, may have merit. You be the judge.

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 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.