It is truly getting into the dog days of summer here in the northeastern United States. Temperatures in the nineties (Fahrenheit – global warming hasn’t gotten that bad yet!), humidity so thick you can practically swim through the air, and the sweet stench of urine in the New York City subway all combine to make life miserable.

To beat the heat I birded the coast on Sunday morning and was rewarded with expected birds of shore and sea. My Best Bird of the Weekend was any of the American Oystercatchers that were flying in flocks in some kind of territorial squabble that I could make neither heads nor tails of. Mike also tried to beat the heat by exploring the Adirondacks on a camping trip. He saw a ton of beautiful warblers in the Adirondacks this weekend, but his favorite sighting was a Common Loon in perfect summer plumage haunting Heart Lake.

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 or shared photos online, 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.