Rain Birding – It’s the Pits!

“Yeah, rain birding in Pittsburgh! Just grab an umbrella and an old camera.” Right. Great idea. Obviously the sad result of some combination of nature overenthusiasm and/or too much (or not enough?) black coffee.

Wet bird
Allegheny River & Fort Duquesne Bridge (Interstate 279)

Rain. Like water off a duck’s back:

Roberto Clemente Bridge over Allegheny River
Wet bird II
On left, Point State Park & Fort Pitt Bridge

Goose family’s day along the Allegheny River:

Head of Ohio River
Still a bird, even wetter
Acrisure Stadium
Looking for niblets
Fort Pitt
I hear a worm
Former site of Fort Duquesne, looking towards head of Ohio River
Fan dance
Point State Park
A discarded orange in peril
I know there’s a worm here somewhere
Head of Ohio River (l) & Point State Park Fountain (r)
Meet me in St. Louis
It cannot escape my powers!
Point State Park Fountain (foreground) & Acrisure Stadium (background)
On behalf of wet birds everywhere, have a nice day

Bird IDs: (1, 8, 13, 21) Northern Rough-winged Swallow; (2-7) Mallard (m) in fountain; (9-12) Canada Geese (adults & juveniles); (14) European Starling; (15, 18, 20) American Robin; (16, 19) Northern Cardinal; (17) House Sparrows (m).

Wrong Lens

Bird photography rule #17: be opportunistic. Even with the ‘wrong lens’ (600mm prime = too slow, absurdly long min focus distance, etc.), still possible this past Sunday along the Gull Point Trail for some nice flower/insect close-up shots, featuring Yellow Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris).

“Lucky shot, sir.”

Above: Probably Eastern Bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) on Yellow Toadflax, + unknown species of bee in the family Colletidae on left. Below: Yellow Toadflax along Gull Point Trail.

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
Desert False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) in bloom
Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) or similar, on Creeping Thistle

Different date/nearby location, wrapping it up with a different wrong lens, this time an old iPhone, with Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus) on Purple Crown Vetch (Securigera varia):

Bundle(s) of Joy

Dateline: 15 June 2025

Back to Presque Isle State Park, with what seemed like a fairly slow day (shorebird wise) at Gull Point Sunday afternoon.

Budny Beach looking towards Gull Point
Outer Gull Point

Slow, that is, except for a great sighting of recently hatched Piping Plover chicks, at least three, possibly four. Always a very happy occasion! Following shots at long distance from new observation platform:

Adult – left; chick – right of center
Adult – left; 3 chicks – 2 to left of adult, 1 on far right
Uncropped view of above @ 600mm (very small/distant)
Another view of adult and 3 chicks

More Piping Plover:

Adult in flight (right of center)
Adult landing by lagoon/pond
Adult foraging waterside
Another view of adult Piping Plover

Some sort of brief altercation w/ two adults and a male Red-winged Blackbird:

Piping Plover (left & in flight center right) + Red-winged Blackbird
Adult PP (left center & lower left) w/ Red-winged Blackbird

Following notice was posted on both observation platforms. Unfortunately, despite looking, couldn’t find/see the crow effigies!

Gull Point, view north from new observation platform

More birds @ outer Gull Point:

Spotted Sandpiper
Turkey Vultures
Ring-billed Gull (?) w/ fish
Vultures II
Spotted Sandpiper flying over Lake Erie

Finally, a nice (if not particularly well lit) sequence of Osprey carrying fish/food:

Osprey carrying food
Osprey harassed by Common Tern
Osprey harassed by blackbird or grackle
Osprey + Common Tern II
Osprey + Common Tern over outer Lake Erie
Osprey lands on marker sign at north outer beach

Coming up soon, more Gull Point nature!

SDBG 2

Part 2/2 of San Diego Botanic Gardens back in March, featuring (unless otherwise noted) Allen’s Hummingbird (maybe also Rufous Hummingbird):

Rufous Hummingbird (f)
Lower rainforest garden
Poor Man’s Cycad (Encephalartos villosus)
Waterfall @ upper rainforest garden
Rainforest garden
Lebombo Cycad (Encephalartos lebomboensis) or similar
Top of rainforest garden looking down
Red-shouldered Hawk
Walkway to Overlook Tower
The red shoulder of “Red-shouldered”
View NE-ish from Overlook Tower
Red-shouldered Hawk III
Black Phoebe
View SE-ish from Overlook Tower
A species of Cottontail Rabbit, probably Brush Rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani)
In the distance, the Pacific Ocean
Bamboo forest
Rabbit in the garden

All in all, a great visit to SDBG! Highly recommended.

SDBG 1

With NE spring warbler migration mostly (entirely?) over, it’s time to head back in time a few months to a great outing in March to the rather amazing San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, California. Lots of plants, & lots of birds enjoying the plants!

Bushtit
Map to garden adventures
Song Sparrow
Bushtit II
Bottle Tree (Brachychiton rupestris)
California Towhee
Bushtit III
Elevated view of gardens (foreground) and nearby neighborhoods (background)
California Towhee II
Spotted Towhee
Elephant Foot Tree (Beaucarnea recurvata)
Orange-crowned Warbler
California Towhee III
Toni’s Tree House
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Maiden’s Quiver Tree (Aloe ramosissima), foreground
California Towhee IV
Northern Mockingbird
Candelabra Tree (Euphorbia ingens) or similar
Common Raven
Bushtit IV
View of gardens
Spotted Towhee II
Northern Mockingbird II
Blooming Elephant Foot Tree
Orange-crowned Warbler II
Orange-crowned Warbler III
Heading into the rainforest

What’s great about San Diego Botanic Garden is the (i) variety/diversity of plants and (ii) it’s been around (first private and then public) for 80+ years = many magnificent mature specimens.

Bonus section (re-post?) of Orange-crowned Warbler at a nearby location in San Diego County, same date, better showing the orange crown:

Coming up next time, more at SDBG, including lots of hummingbirds! (Yay!)

Mostly Hangin’ In There

It’s a rainy, rainy Saturday morning here in Erie County, Pennsylvania = all BirdingPI.com field operations on ‘weather hold.’ But that’s fine – there’s always a backlog of bird photos, e.g., here, recently, at South Pier. All Red-winged Blackbird (male – black w/ red shoulders, female – mottled brown/buff) unless otherwise noted.

Ring-billed Gull at east end of South Pier
Common Grackle (m)
GBH on North Pier w/ Perry Monument in background
Ring-billed Gulls
Grackle II

PI, 27 April

More tardy photo editing, featuring 27 April 2025 at Presque Isle State Park (various locations):

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Gnatcatcher takes flight
Palm Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher III
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
Gnatcatcher IV
Northern Harrier
Gnatcatcher V
Palm Warbler @ beach
Gnatcatcher VI
Killdeer w/ surf
Palm Warbler @ beach II
Killdeer w/ surf II
Palm Warbler @ beach III
Killdeer w/ surf III
Palm Warbler @ beach IV
Killdeer IV
Palm Warbler VI
Killdeer V
Turkey Vulture over Gull Point Trail

Wrapping it up with Palm Warbler exhibiting flycatching behaviour, etc.:

Casual Spring Flowers

Out on a late-spring walk in Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania (“Since 1800”), with toss offs of flowers & friends, either 50mm standard or 50mm macro. Mostly cloudy conditions. (Species ID at end of post.)

Photo IDs: (i) Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare); (ii) Probably Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris); (iii) Field of daisies; (iv) Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora); (v) Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare); (vi) Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus); (vii) More daisies; (viii) Ragged-robin (Silene flos-cuculi); (ix) Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus); (x) Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare); (xi) Ragged-robin (Silene flos-cuculi); (xii) White Philadelphia Fleabane w/ probably Tarnished Plant Bug (TPB)(Lygus lineolaris), nymph form; (xiii) Multiflora Rose w/ a hoverfly, perhaps Margined Calligrapher Fly (Toxomerus marginatus); (xiv) Fleabane w/ TPB; (xv) Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) bud; (xvi) Multiflora Rose w/ hoverfly; (xvii) species of Taraxacum (dandelion), seed pod detail w/ morning dew; (xviii) Multiflora Rose w/ hoverfly; (xix) Fleabane w/ TPB; (xx) dandelion, seed pod detail w/ morning dew; (xxi) Multiflora Rose w/ hoverfly; (xxii) Ox-eye Daisy detail; (xxiii) Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) bloom; &(xxiv) Ox-eye Daisy.

[Editor’s note: ID on Ox-eye Daisy based on bloom size, petal count, and leaf pattern (e.g., Common Daisy would be smaller with fewer petals and a rounder leaf):

Ox-eye Daisy leaves