Weekend Update

Dateline: 20-21 August 2022

Sunny Saturday morning @ Gull Point

Warm and dry Saturday in Erie, moderate thunderstorms overnight. Partially clear but unsettled Sunday morning, thunderstorms moving in with fairly heavy rain over Presque Isle State Park just before 2:30pm (see below). Pre-rain, all Presque Isle State Park trails dry except where previously reported. Partial clearing by early Sunday evening, followed by severe t-storms overnight.

Presque Isle public service announcement: be on the lookout for crazy/summer/out-of-town drivers, e.g., folks with NYS plates driving the wrong way on 1-way road (true story).

Bird-wise, lots of great activity as usual. Canada Geese and Double-breasted Cormorant migration off to a strong/busy start.

Gull Point Saturday AM: geese, cormorant, gulls, plover (probably Semipalmated Plover), yellowlegs (probably Lesser Yellowlegs), dowitcher (probably Short-billed Dowitcher), Killdeer, Caspian Tern, Bald Eagle, Starling, etc. No shorebird activity along the beach; a sandpiper or two on the back bay.

Canada Goose/landing
Double-breasted Cormorant on the lowdown
Cormorant detail
Dowitcher @ heavily cropped
Yellowlegs and dowitcher (heavy crop)
Plover & dowitcher (extreme crop)

Following are juvenile (left) and adult (right) flycatcher. Perhaps Least Flycatcher, but coloration not an exact match.

Hmmm…. Flycatcher of some sort
Reverse angle
Gray Catbird!
Osprey
Least Flycatcher (note the strong white eyering)
Bald Eagle @ edge of Thompson Bay

Green Heron summer continues along the Sidewalk Trail. Spotted a Red-tailed Hawk in the distance, otherwise very quiet.

Dry-ish swamp

Sunday PM, better conditions for dramatic landscape shots than birds. At Thompson Bay:

Incoming rain

Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, flycatcher, sparrow, Yellow Warbler, etc. activity along the Pine Tree Trail, as the rain started:

Eastern Wood-pewee

Sparrow of some sort:

Song Sparrow
Thompson Bay, view north towards Lake Erie

Later this week, back to Arizona with hummingbird and more warbler!