Oh to be in Texas admiring the celebrity bird du jour, an incredibly unexpected Amazon Kingfisher! Amazing encounters occur when amazing birders visit amazing places, but serendipitous sightings increase exponentially when so many amazing birders gather for an amazing birding festival. Congratulations to our buddy Jeff Bouton for bringing unexpected joy and a new ABA tick to so many happy birders and congrats as well to our friends at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, one of the most enjoyable birding festivals anywhere. Let’s also extend congratulations to those of you who made the wise decision to visit the RGVBF this year… did you see the kingfisher?

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a self-found Cackling Goose at Baisley Pond Park in Queens. Little geese are awesome, at least when you find them.  I visited Hamlin Beach in search of an errant Ross’s Goose mixed in with Canadas but found only Snow Geese. I also encountered lots of Snow Buntings. Can snow be far behind?

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 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.