Dateline: 23 July 2022
Yes, more Green Heron, from this past weekend! Green Heron are great.
From the swamp/pond at the east end of Sidewalk Trail, Presque Isle State Park.
Weekend Update (3)
The ‘Witcher
Dateline: 24 July 2022; Weekend Update (2)
Never know what will show up at Gull Point. (High likelihood: gulls and geese.) Several individual Dowitcher spotted earlier this season. Sunday, however, a flock of 10+ fairly close to the observation platform trail. Really amazing to see. Partly hazy/cloudy photography conditions.
Following video clips may seem sped up, but no, they’re really moving that quickly.
[Editor’s note: Probably all Short-billed Dowitcher. No vocalizations to confirm, however.]
[Photo Editor’s note: Due to budget constraints, this blog/website is not conducive to large video files, hence the short video snippets.]
Weekend Update (1)
Dateline: 23-24 July 2022
Another epic BirdingPI.com weekend update. And this just the misc stuff — stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 later this week, especially exciting videography from Gull Point on Sunday! (Really.)
Weather in Erie: Saturday – warm, humid, alternating clouds and sun, couple drops of rain. Sunday – rain early AM/overnight; very warm and humid, partly sunny by mid-morning, but obvious T-storms towards the north/Canada. Heavy rain over Presque Isle by 11:30am, otherwise very localized. Dry in south Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) until 6pm or so, followed by brief-but-severe wind/rain/t-storms. Periodic rain/thunder/lightning overnight, still very warm/humid. Milder by Monday morning.
Trails locally wet/muddy due to recent rain. Gull Point inner old trail re-flooded and impassible without wet feet.
Moving on to nature content. First, Millcreek Twp. Very cool sighting of a Viceroy butterfly:
Similar to a Monarch, but lacks significant white spots on the top of the head/thorax. Note also the cross-stripe indicated in the excerpt below, lacking in Monarch:
Next up, cute/noisy Chipping Sparrow:
Probably juvenile male House Sparrow:
Next up, Presque Isle, Dead Pond Trail. A deer in the brush:
[Editor’s note: A picture of a deer at Presque Isle… Wow.]
Beautiful Common Yellowthroat (female or immature):
Matthew McConaughey’s favorite bird (?):
Great to see a Pickerel Frog, right along the trail:
Gull Point on Sunday. Enough of a ‘sun/dry window’ to tempt the foolhardy. Almost made it back to Bundy Beach before the rain hit, but not quite; good thing for warm temps and waterproof-ish gear.
Song Sparrow along the Gull Point Trail:
Red-winged Blackbird (f):
Eastern Kingbird:
Lovely out at Gull Point itself; devoid of other birders/humans. Gulls, geese, Caspian Tern, swallows, Mute Swan, Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer, blackbirds, Eastern Kingbird, etc. Tall Pond Lilies are in bloom; always nice to see:
Big “first BirdingPI.com sighting this season” news was Bank Swallow:
These shots dashed off and rather poor quality; good enough for ‘get the idea.’ Note the brown upper side, white lower side, and most distinctively (vs. female Tree Swallow, or Northern Rough-winged Swallow), a sharp dark band around the lower neck. See arrow here:
Surprise appearance of Common Merganser:
Juvenile or non-breeding Spotted Sandpiper:
Other big news at Gull Point: an amazing flock of 10+ Dowitcher, in the wet area right by the roped-off trail to the observation platform. Pics and video tomorrow!
On the quick/pre-rain hike back to Budny Beach, Spotted Sandpiper x surf:
[Photo Editor’s note: Photo at top of Viceroy butterfly was ‘shopped to remove extraneous/objectionable content.]
Green Heron Summer
Dateline: 17 July 2022
Green Heron summer continues — with what else? — more lovely Green Heron! From the swampy pond at the east end of the Sidewalk Trail. (This individual – or related – spotted two weekends in a row at this spot – and not overly skittish.)
Localized, heavy rain’s put a damper on the Presque Isle outdoors activities today (Sunday, 24 July 2022), but fear not! Enough of a mostly- dry window for another trek out to Gull Point in the AM! Stay tuned for some very cool photography and video, featuring birds! Once the camera equipment dries out, that is.
[Editor’s note: The camera equipment is fine. #waterproof bags.]
Wren, Don’t Walk
Dateline: 17 July 2022
Recent House Wren shots, square-cropped, from off Thompson Circle, Presque Isle State Park.
At least three very busy wrens at this location last Sunday AM.
On Turtle Detail
Dateline: July 2022
Recent detail turtle views from the BirdingPI.com turtle detail. Along the Gull Point Trail, Presque Isle State Park. Likely either Northern Map Turtle or Painted Turtle.
Erie weather forecast indicates humid, warm conditions both Saturday and Sunday, with a 60% chance of significant t-storms Sunday PM. Sounds like nice conditions for getting out early for birding! Have a nice weekend.
BIF-tastic?
“BIF” = birds in flight. (Used if either too busy or too cool to spell it out, like the staff of BirdingPI.com.) Also a Hardy Boys’ character.
Anyway, some recent BIF!
First, RTH over Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). (RTH = Red-tailed Hawk. Twp = Township.)
Next, what appears to be GC over PI! (GC = Gray Catbird! PI = Presque Isle.) Taken at a very long distance over TCS/P (Thompson Circle swamp/pond) = not super sharp, still cool.
Where are those Catbirds
going? Only the Catbirds
know with certainty.
Lots of EKB (Eastern Kingbird) at PI this year. Shots of feeding behavior over Thompson Bay – fly, then flap to ‘hover’ over a spot until catching an insect:
Birds On Plants
Dateline: 17 July 2022
Just some good, old-fashioned birds on plants. Red-winged Blackbird (female) along Thompson Bay.
Bonus American Robin:
Weekend Update
Dateline: 15-17 July 2022
BirdingPI.com team spent the usable part of the weekend scouring Presque Isle State Park for any and all nature activity. As usual.
Saturday: sunny, warm, humid, dry; light wind. Beautiful weather for Gull Point. Sunday: morning – warm/moderate, light overcast, quite humid, very sub-tropical. (Seemed ok weather for the Presque Isle 1/2 marathon, although perhaps overly humid.) Decent thunderstorms by 1:30pm; much needed rain on-and-off through the evening and night.
Before the rain at least, all trails dry and in good condition except where previously reported; lots of biting flies along some of the interior trails (Pine Tree, Dead Pond…)
Plenty of bird activity; see previous posts for other content. First up, Black-capped Chickadee along the Marsh Trail. (Marsh Trail in very good shape.)
Gray Catbird! “double vision:”
Also along the Marsh Trail. (One Catbird! in front of the other in shrubbery.)
On the trek out to Gull Point, GBH with White Pond Lilies:
In the woods bordering the Gull Point mud flats, Common Yellowthroat (male):
Spotted Sandpiper @ Gull Point:
Sparrow (Song Sparrow?) @ Gull Point:
Flock of (definitely) Mallards, perhaps some American Black Ducks, in for a landing @ Gull Point:
More bee/flower:
Next up, the BirdingPI.com Insect Moment(TM), finally an ok shot of a Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis). Note the white markings (curve and separate dot) in the second shot, i.e., forming the eponymous question mark.
Comparing to the Comma butterfly, the Question Mark has a row of four dots on its wings, one at an angle, as shown in this annotated excerpt:
Comma butterfly: three in-line dots but not the fourth, angled dot (arrow).
Finally, BirdingPI.com is happy to announce the rollout of its new refreshment station located off the Dead Pond Trail. All hot and tired birders, be on the lookout!
Stay tuned this week for more turtles, BIF, and some rather nice photographs of birds sitting on plants.
More Breakfast at I Hop
Dateline: July 2022
More Eastern Kingbird! More amazing bird behavioral activity!
At the edge of Thompson Bay, by “Thompson Bay Access Trail #1” (see https://birdingpi.com/872-2/), Presque Isle State Park.
Two juveniles (presumably) in a tree. Adult arrives with berries for feeding time. Reasonably nice photography ensues, framing issues notwithstanding.
