@ Headlands/Mentor (Part 2)

Edit: note that Presque Isle State Park is closed for vehicle traffic Sunday, 10 September 2023, until 12 noon, for the Erie Marathon.


ABA Warning: This post Rated PG-13 for fish gore, bird-on-fish violence, and exuberant flora. Viewer discretion is advised.


More from last weekend at Headlands Beach in Mentor, OH! #more_Osprey

Perhaps due to human presence (even at a distance), this bird was moving its fish/lunch from location to location down the beach.


Meanwhile, a couple other Osprey were flying high overhead:


Back with the fish:

Interesting the fish’s head was the first to go. Apparently it’s the ‘tasty bits!’


Red-headed Woodpecker @ trees adjacent parking lot
R-h Woodpecker II

Great sighting of juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker:

R-h Woodpecker (juvenile)

Now it’s over to the Mentor Marsh Nature Center; nice trail through the woods with an observation platform overlooking the marsh:

Marsh view I
Marsh view II
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Not much bird activity here; Cardinal, Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Blue Jay, and this fine Brown Thrasher:

Thrashin’

Finally, a quick stop at the great Wakerobin Boardwalk Trail off Woodridge Ln:

Boardwalk view towards marsh
Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) (aka Hardy Hibiscus)
View down marsh NE from boardwalk

Bird activity: GBH, Barn Swallow and/or Tree Swallow, Wood Duck, American Crow, Song Sparrow (?), and the day’s highlight – and a BirdingPI.com ‘first sighting ever’ (!) – a beautiful female (or male w/ nonbreeding plumage) Bobolink:

Bobolink I
Another view of Bobolink
Bobolink III
View back towards parking area