Most memorable bird encounters (1 Viewer)

[Dr.Boletus]

Starting this thread in the hope others will chime in with their most memorable bird encounters. I've provided 5 of mine below, with the best photo of the day, as well as a rating I gave to that birdwatching day, with a 10.0 being an ideal day.

5. Sierra Espuna 04/2022
Rating: 5.7
Species: Golden eagle

Although the photos I obtained were not that impressive, this was my first-ever time when I had seen a golden eagle. And I saw it very close. Unlike what my photos show, the pair got incredibly close at one point, and once had an aerial conflict with a peregrine as I watched!
4. An out-of-control day at El Hondo 12/2022
Rating: 6.5
Species: Eagle-owl, Fulvescens greater spotted eagle, merlin

I visited for the greater spotted eagle and sort of saw it (although it would be best a few days later), but most of the heavy lifting was done by a bird which surprised an entire crowd. When I got there, it flew off from a perfect perch, but didn't fly far off. It then flew right past me and gave amazing views, although I still don't like my photo that much because it doesn't show the owl's facial disk. But others gave it a 5/5 on ebird, the only time I have ever received that rating there. I also was upset because of my own ineptitude- I tracked a female merlin to its perch, said 'meh' and looked away. It then flew right past me, and I in absolute shock messed up the focus so much I almost deleted the photo on sight.
3. Monster rarities around Alicante province 04/2023
Rating: 7.9
Species: Lesser flamingo, elegant tern, Montagu's harrier

I visited the area solely for Montagu's harriers, and enjoyed a lot of lovely views of a pair skydancing, and later of a male which flew incredibly close to the fence. I then entirely by accident saw a lesser flamingo out on the lake! Although my photos were meager, which is why this monstrous rarity did not score higher, I then went on to track down two elegant terns at El Pinet! Although the elegant tern is one amazing encounter...nothing beats the lesser flamingo at all.
2. Bearded vulture in the Pyrenees 07/2022
Rating: 9.1
Species: Bearded vulture, golden eagle, griffon vulture, chough, alpine chough

This day was a nightmare. A thunderstorm in the morning, and distant views of the bearded vulture at first. Around 6pm, we decided to leave, but our way was blocked by a broken rode, forcing us to return back the way we came. As we did so, I saw a bearded vulture at incredibly close range, and took some photos just as it disappeared behind a ridge. Prior to this event I had wanted to see this bird for 5 years.
Best: Raptors of Sierra Oeste de Madrid 04/2023
Rating: 9.9
Species: Spanish imperial eagle, black vulture, black stork

In many ways the ideal day of birdwatching, I went out to the mountains for the morning and got treated to stunning views of an adult imperial eagle sitting on a pylon and then a young bird circling overhead whilst looking at me, a black vulture circling low overhead, and even distant views of the extremely shy black stork! The only way this day could have ever been better was if I had seen an adult imperial eagle in flight, and seen the black stork closer in another area. But the day was otherwise too amazing to complain. The imperial eagle in particular has been #1 on my list for 6 years until that moment, and only a good view of an Andean/California condor can beat that level of excitement out of a different species.

 

[foresttwitcher]

So many but three that come to mind include:

Japan in winter in general - dancing Cranes, Blackiston's Fish Owl, my first 3 Albatross species on the same ferry journey, etc.;

Hornoya Island in Varangerfjord, Norway - just a total immersive seabird experience;

Hells Gate National Park, Kenya - watching a massive colony of Nyanza Swift on a cliff and following the action as a pair of Lanner cooperatively hunted, the female flying along the cliff edge flushing the swifts and the male suddenly stopping at speed from higher up and hitting one to the ground which the female followed down & caught.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Many; today the memories include my first White-tailed Eagle, with a supporting cast of Hen Harrier and Barn Owl; Marvellous Spatuletail, Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, Southern Cassowary, Helmeted Hornbill, King of Saxony Bird of Paradise, Green-breasted Pitta and perhaps always top of the list, Pale-billed Antpitta.

 

[hookem2010]

Short-eared owl soaring over Pihea Valley in Kauai while on my honeymoon with my wife is probably #1.
Driving 6 hours with a couple buddies to the Rio Grande Valley for the first ABA record of bat falcon, and arriving literally one minute before a passing motorist honked, scaring the bird away for the day, then also connecting with US rarities crimson-collared grosbeak and golden-crowned warbler in the same day ranks #2.
#3, Taking one of my first long drives specifically to bird, I visited Anahuac NWR in winter. This was just a few months into taking up the hobby and I rarely, if ever, exceeded 20 species on a checklist. I easily surpassed 40 species that day. An experienced birder might have listed twice that, but I was learning my IDs on the fly and was dazzled by the thousands of waterfowl and striking individuals like a peregrine falcon and vermillion flycatcher.

 

[wolfbirder]

Like you Condor, I’m a raptor man…..so many great encounters great raptors like Golden Eagles, Goshawks, Hobby’s, Merlin’s, Sakers, Snowy Owls etc but I think my top 5 are:-

1) Adult male Pallid Harrier at Whitendale Valley, Dundop Bridge in the Forest of Bowland, Lancs where I visited 3 times to see this gorgeous looking bird over a total of twelve hours. It was beautiful looking adult, at the extreme pale end for Pallid males. Watched it glide effortlessly down the hillside, cross over very close to us, perched on a fence post and catching two passerines. It also Sky-danced at some height, chattering away and stooping doing the rollercoaster. It even flew upside down carrying a stick! Quite the most exhilarating birding I have ever enjoyed.

2) Gyrfalcon at Stepper Point, Cornwall - had to try twice for this, and after sleeping in my Fiat Punto for two nights I deserved to connect. On the 2nd night in light drizzle everyone had given up hope of it coming into its roost site, except me and another chap. One last look up the quarry and in came a glowing white-morph immature female. In semi-darkness I could just make it out. I slept in my car that night but was back out at 5.30am, and as the soft morning sun came over the oceans horizon behind me, the Gyr was watched for twenty minutes just forty metres away, before it shot off over my head and lost in the blinding sun.

3) Great Grey Owl pair near Kemi, Finland - the female was quite high in its nest and largely out of view but eventually the male came in and dropped food to the female. He then perched up nearby for the day, where I enjoyed crippling full views down to twenty metres.

4) The contentious Eagle Owls at Dunsop Bridge, at the same place I was to later encounter the Pallid Harrier, offered a good opportunity to see these birds. Both adults carried no bling and they had wild- born fledged youngsters. The large female had already attacked a walker, and on the day I went I went to speak to the warden of the site who was with his Corgi dog. As we were chatting, the female landed in the heather thirty yards away, and then flew directly towards us, filling the frame in my binoculars. It literally flew a metre above us and then to the other side. I reckon it was measuring up an attack.

5) Lastly, the 2nd CY Bearded Vulture / Lammergeier at Howden Moor, South Yorks- this magnificent wild-born giant blessed our English hills for around a month, and I went twice to see her. Second time, I had just arrived at Back Tor and settled down for a sandwich when she appeared over a ridge. She circled directly over me for a minute staring down intently, down to a height of twenty - thirty metres. What an experience! She continued to show well on and off!

There we go, my top five raptor experiences!

 

[RecoveringScot]

One among many for me was ambling down a path in the Küçük Çamlıca gated park in Istanbul in May 1991 when a flock of Jackdaws rose noisily, and immediately was attacked by a Saker Falcon adult, which emerged carrying one. This happened within 50-60 feet of me. Sakers frequently hung around the pylons on the larger hill next door on migration (but this was my only spring one).

 

[lunitis]

I can relate with you. I live in Costa Blanca so i know all those places.
I might have seen your Eagle-owl photo before, i saw the reports about that bird in El Hondo. Went there a few times in the winter, but wasnt lucky to find the owl. Had a decent view from the spotted eagle though.
I suppose you went to Pink Lake view point at Torreviejas salinas for the lesser flamingo and the Montagu's harriers (?). I went there yesterday hoping for the lesser flamingo, but wasnt lucky. To compensate, there were plenty of Montagu's harriers in close view, and a cuckoo came to say hi really close.
About the elegant tern ... I went to El Pinet on saturday to see him, was my second try (was lucky this time around). I met the ebird county's “supervisor”, he wasnt sure about the existence of a second elegant tern (there are no photos with both at the same time), because a Lesser crested tern was photographed there on Friday (another rarity!!). As they are a bit similar, maybe people thought they were the same specie.

Some cool encounters...

1- A long tailed duck in Portugal. I was a birder for only 3 months by then. Had no idea how rare that bird was for the Iberian Peninsula. Never saw him again.

2- Two Red-footed falcons in Saladares del Gualentin in Murcia a few years ago.

3- A sunbittern in Costa Rica, beautifull bird, wasnt expecting it.

 

[rosbifs]

Mine are raptors too.

Two Eagle Owls
One in Finland when I was young. Called it out by tape two years after had recorded it by standing on the summer cottage roof with a washing up basin (parabolic). The bird sat on top of a tree fro 10 minutes watching me and I ignored it - Only when I though hang on is that a bird! At which point it flew...

One in the Pyrenees
Theoretically can see this bird from my kitchen window although 1,5kms up the valley. Anyway, on one visit the bird flew past me a matter of metres away, less than the width of the road, and landed on a low pylon in front of me. Incredible and didn't know where to put myself.

Goshawk - Finland
Bred at the end of the road to the summer cottage. I used to visit and found the young not long after fledging - because before my voice had broken I could call them out by screeching at them!

Great Grey Owl
Taken to the nest to find partially fledged chicks and a cross mother. Partially fledged because they weren't in the nest and not where the guy expected to find them.

Pallid Harrier
Second favourite bird, after Goshawk. Found three separate times - the set - Juv, originally I misidentified, Adult Male on migration with a group, 2cy Female again on migration but spring. Took some photos and some bird forum help to clinch the id - so exciting and educational!

Black Kites
Huge migration moment with 3-4000 in an hour on the Soulor - when I checked on google earth there was in the region of 8km worth in a line or forming into flocks!

Misc
Finding Scops - first breeders for the region, Black Shouldered Kites - first nests around Lourdes, Lesser Kestrels which paused at Argeles for a couple of weeks, Short Toed Eagle nest from garden, my first Red Foot - still need a male! Gyr Falcon at Spurn but also finding them on the Tana in Norway - I had just spoken to my Dad, on the phone, after failing to find them who said check along the river banks and there they were!

As others have said great memories and too many to mention...

 

[Dr.Boletus]

I can relate with you. I live in Costa Blanca so i know all those places.
I might have seen your Eagle-owl photo before, i saw the reports about that bird in El Hondo. Went there a few times in the winter, but wasnt lucky to find the owl. Had a decent view from the spotted eagle though.
I suppose you went to Pink Lake view point at Torreviejas salinas for the lesser flamingo and the Montagu's harriers (?). I went there yesterday hoping for the lesser flamingo, but wasnt lucky. To compensate, there were plenty of Montagu's harriers in close view, and a cuckoo came to say hi really close.
About the elegant tern ... I went to El Pinet on saturday to see him, was my second try (was lucky this time around). I met the ebird county's “supervisor”, he wasnt sure about the existence of a second elegant tern (there are no photos with both at the same time), because a Lesser crested tern was photographed there on Friday (another rarity!!). As they are a bit similar, maybe people thought they were the same specie.

Some cool encounters...

1- A long tailed duck in Portugal. I was a birder for only 3 months by then. Had no idea how rare that bird was for the Iberian Peninsula. Never saw him again.

2- Two Red-footed falcons in Saladares del Gualentin in Murcia a few years ago.

3- A sunbittern in Costa Rica, beautifull bird, wasnt expecting it.

Yes, the eagle owl surprised a lot of people!
Pink Lake view point, that is right. The lesser flamingo associated with a big flamingo flock from that viewpoint, but did move around by itself again. Try it again- you should get lucky.
Technically, my photos sort of prove that there are 2 terns. Two of my photos were shot from the exact same angle, but show two different birds with marked differences in 'hairstyle' sitting really close together. One of them has absolutely no black feathers on its forehead.
Regarding the mod, be careful with him and your photos. I have become aware that the accusations he heaped against me were not a one-off event. I am getting increasingly convinced I saw a second elegant tern, and no there was no lesser crested tern there, in my opinion, as it is much rarer. They are very very very similar, but I think the ginormous bill showing the second tern I recently posted rules out the lesser crested tern.
Nice encounters! Given you live in the area, you might want to check your DMs for another location, which I ask you don't share publically.

 

[in vitrio]

In Athens a couple of years ago, girlfriend is from there, and we're walking through the park near the Benaki museum. I hear a loud raaaak and am thinking "magpie". But it's too loud and too insistent and I say to her, "I think it's a parakeet".

She thinks I'm mad but we go chasing after the sound and, high up, peeking out of a hole in a tree, is a monk parakeet. She had no idea they were there; neither did anyone she knew, who thought she was mad for reporting parakeets in Athens. Fortunately we had the photographic proof.

Now...monk and ring-necked are unmissable, if you know where to go.

 

[Maroon Jay]

We were standing on a path on Tiritiri Matangi Island off the shore of New Zealand. It was night, and we were looking for kiwis. To our surprise, a couple of Little Penguins came walking down the path towards up. We stepped off the path to let them pass. There was a junction in the path just behind us, and they stopped there for a minute, deciding which way to go. They passed within a metre of us. It was an unforgettable moment and my best bird encounter.

 

[Stonefaction]

Some of my most memorable (for a variety of reasons) can be found in this blog-post - 0250 : Post 250 - Six Of The Best.

 

[hannibalscannibal]

one of my most memorable was probably seeing a White-Tailed Tropicbird for the first time. i was on a cruise from Boston to Bermuda and had done research ahead of time so i'd know what to look for on the way and on Bermuda, but i could never have fully prepared myself for seeing the Tropicbird for the first time. i was up on the top deck of the boat, towards the bow, scanning for Shearwaters or Petrels when i saw the Tropicbird go by me. its long flowing tail was just so strikingly elegant, i couldn't get enough of them no matter how many i saw on the trip : )