As the long Thanksgiving weekend ends (at least around here) and an excess of conspicuous consumerism ensues, we’ll all do well in the coming weeks and months to consider how best to close out this calendar year. What are your values? More important, are you living them? For those of us who love nature, these questions matter a lot.

My core values demand that I get outside often enough to experience the real world, rather than what I see while watching football. While out in my neighborhood, I saw what I believe was a Sharp-shinned Hawk take a pass at one of Rochester’s exotic white squirrels, which turn up this time of year like clockwork. Corey enjoyed an early morning subway ride into Manhattan on Sunday in search of a couple of reported rarities and some lingering wood-warblers at City Hall Park. He was pleased to spot all of his target species, from Yellow-breasted Chat to Ovenbird. But his Best Bird of the Weekend was the fifth Western Tanager he’s ever seen in New York State.

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.