Second and final part of a morning at El Rio Preserve in Marana, AZ, from this past summer:
Three nice shots of Green Heron:
Here’s a view of the El Rio Preserve dyke; the artificial pond/lake is fed w/ tertiary-treated wastewater and/or purchased agricultural water:
Finally, a medley of Verdin (w/ food) + other birds as indicated:
Once again waiting on photo editing for recent Presque Isle shots, but there’s still a lot of Tucson-area content in the queue from this past July/August. If you recall the “Roadrunner caught a baby kangaroo rat” post, these are from that same morning @ El Rio Preserve in Marana, Arizona:
To celebrate the weekend, here’s a very nice medley of very cute juvenile Vermilion Flycatcher (male) x adult female Vermilion Flycatcher (in flight, carrying food):
Coming up soon, checking in with the sun!
It’s the final leg of last Saturday’s expedition to Gull Point, featuring birds along the ‘inland’/’official’ trail between outer Gull Point and Budny Beach. Except where noted, lots of cute Golden-crowned Kinglet:
Erie weather forecast: seasonally cool & sunny – looks like a spectacular weekend ahead for fall foliage/nature/birds. #more_bird
After multiple sightings of “no Egret, lots of Crows,” seems like the ‘resident’ Great Egret at Leo’s Landing was replaced by several+ American Crows. Or perhaps it’s just one bird, like a magical Egret that can turn into several crows. Or maybe several crows that can combine to form a Great Egret. Like Voltron.
[Editor’s note: with apologies, it appears the BirdingPI.com team is still suffering from post-Las Vegas second-hand smoke exposure. ‘Voltron’ indeed.]
Anyway, a great/surprising at-dawn sighting at Leo’s Landing of an American Crow engaging in what appeared to be dive fishing, or some other sort of ‘water retrieval’ (see note below):
Behavioral note: the crows at this date/location were jockeying with the local gulls for fish scraps – see photograph immediately above. The crow above may have been attempting to retrieve something in the water, e.g., dropped by another bird. More on this (gulls/crows) in an upcoming post!
It’s part 2 of Presque Isle State Park weekend content, w/ continuing shots of a loop hike to Gull Point Saturday late morning. As usual this time of year, lots of Double-crested Cormorants flying in/out:
“Bird of the weekend,” lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler everywhere there were trees & brush, e.g., here in the willows along the beach close to outer Gull Point:
Nice sequence of foraging behavior w/ insect caught in spider’s web:
“Bird of the day,” always nice to see Eastern Meadowlark, here popping up briefly from the grass at outer Gull Point to reposition elsewhere in the grass:
Nice view from outer Gull Point, looking generally west, of a lagoon + tree line:
Heading back on the ‘inland’/’official’ trail, w/ more Yellow-rumped Warbler & a nice sighting of Field Sparrow on the rope fence:
As expected, a beautiful fall weekend at Presque Isle State Park, w/ sunny skies & mild temps. Here along the Gull Point Trail Saturday, lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler & kinglet activity; outer Gull Point very quiet. Following shots mostly in the vicinity of Budny Beach, starting with a nice medley of White-breasted Nuthatch x Golden-crowned Kinglet:
It’s a cute juvenile Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) hugging a tree @ east end of Budny Beach:
It’s the final post of Las Vegas content from the other week, again at Clark Wetlands Park in Henderson, Nevada. Quite surprising/amazing was the water level in Las Vegas Wash, a veritable river complete with rapids, a shallow waterfall, etc.:
More great bird sightings, including this Orange-crowned Warbler @ foraging behavior:
Also great to see a beautiful Townsend’s Warbler, probably male:
More views of Las Vegas Wash, mostly fed with tertiary wastewater that eventually flows into Lake Mead (+ Colorado River):
Not something you see every day, American Coots navigating rapids upstream:
It’s more amazing Greater Roadrunner at Clark Wetlands Park outside Las Vegas, Nevada:
Erie County, PA weekend weather forecast: sunny, mild. Presque Isle Stat Park bird news: lots and lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler; pictures below taken recently w/i the trees bordering Beach No. 11.
Fall colour change: locally nice/vibrant in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”), still very muted at Presque Isle State Park.
Lots more shots of Yellow-rumped Warbler (w/ more Millcreek maple trees):
Looks a great fall weekend for nature/birding! #more_bird
Dateline: 11 October 2024, Henderson, Nevada
The Las Vegas metro area seemed rather desolate for birds/nature, so it was time to take a Lyft/Uber approximately 14.5 km east to eBird ‘hotspot’ Clark Wetlands Park in Henderson. Somewhat similar to Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, but much larger. A relief to be in nature again & away from crowds/’giant LED billboards’/ smoke.
Nice mix of high desert shrub/scrubland, marshy ponds (mostly fed with tertiary-treated wastewater), & willow/cottonwood habitat. Great spot for seeing Desert Quail like this beautiful male perched on a stone bench:
[Editor’s note: While waiting on ‘official’ re-naming, “Desert Quail” = Gambel’s Quail.] Also, plenty of warbler activity like this juvenile Yellow-rumped Warbler:
Main entrance with the large/nice visitor’s center building in the background right:
Parking lot & vegetation:
Also a great (!) site for Greater Roadrunner:
Here’s a medley of more warbler & quail:
Really bad shot of a Common Gallinule:
Wide/paved trails w/ view of surrounding desert:
Lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler activity at this location. Great to see a male of the Audubon’s sub-species:
(In Erie, PA/NE US, mostly have the Myrtle sub-species of Yellow-rumped Warbler.)
Coming up soon, more Clark Wetlands Park!
[Editor’s note: Las Vegas bird photography taken w/ Nikon D7500 APS-C DSLR & 500mm f5.6 PF lens. Not a camera/kit regular used on BirdingPI.com, but works well enough for relatively close birds in open cover, + lightweight.]