Weather-wise, quite awful this past weekend in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Overcast both days, with on/off rain Saturday (mostly “on”) and fairly heavy wind and rain Sunday until mid-afternoon. Trail conditions: very wet with localized flooding/puddling, even in “normally mostly dry” spots. (Forecast for this Friday & into the near future: snow & rain.)

Overall, fairly subdued bird activity at Presque Isle State Park, but still some nice sightings. Also “Rule 13 of bird photography:” when all else fails, there’s always plants. (Or landscapes.) All shots here from Sunday under rainy conditions.

A few overcast/gloomy shots of a Mallard takeoff on Long Pond:

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Finally, a somewhat random stop at the Beach No. 8 parking lot to check out outer lake/surf conditions. (‘Random’ meaning relative to other possible spots to check out lake conditions, of which there are many.) Otherwise devoid of human/bird activity, and despite heavy wind/blowing rain conditions, surprised to see a flock (10+) of cute Snow Bunting, here mostly shown below or on the split-rail wooden fence that borders the multiuse/bike trail:

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Eventually the Snow Buntings flew towards the beach and then east, caught in the wind:

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Tomorrow, there will be Turkeys! Sort of.

After California Gulch, Ruby Lakes, & a nice roadside stop for lunch (see above – sadly, no good bird photos), it was time for the relatively long drive to White Rock Campground, by the turn for Pena Blanca Lake, as the final birding stop of the day.

“It’s the final campground… The final campground…“

First up, great double Red-tailed Hawk acrobatics:

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Amazingly beautiful (and yellow!) Hooded Oriole (m):

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Tough to photograph in the brush at a long distance, but still so nice to see Varied Bunting (m):

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Finally, it’s bonus Varied Bunting video, complete with annoying birder blather! Embrace the smiley emoji 🙂

Thus endeth the lesson on SEAZ Birding Festival field trip to California Gulch, 2024!

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BirdingPI.com’s resident curmudgeon(s) notwithstanding, we’re back in Arizona from this past August, finishing up at the confluence of Warsaw Canyon & California Gulch, with more lovely Blue Grosbeak (blue = male, brown = female):

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From the confluence, it was time to head up California Gulch Rd towards Ruby, AZ:

Everywhere, lots of beautiful Velvetpod Mimosa (Mimosa dysocarpa) in bloom:

Next stop, Ruby Lakes – see point B on the annotated map in the previous post.

“Ruby Lakes” is upper and lower dams maybe used as a water supply for Ruby, AZ. (Read about Ruby, AZ here and here.) Upper dam is silted in, the lower dam still retains water.

Following shot is below the upper dam, with a Velvetpod Mimosa-covered hillside:

In the thick tangle of willow, etc. trees below the upper dam, great to see a foraging Wilson’s Warbler:

This is the duckweed-covered pond/lake at the lower dam:

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Coming up soon, the last (but not least) of California Gulch!

Enough with the yawn-inducing Arizona stuff already. “Oh, we’re in the desert and the weather’s nice and there’s rainbows and flowers and exotic birds eating food out of our hands, like Gray Hawk and Five-striped Sparrow,” blah, blah, blah. You know what we had in Erie the other weekend? Cold rain, brown leaves, and Herring Gulls carrying around dead fish! And we liked it!

[Editor’s note: thanks to Dana Carvey.]

Another rainy day in Erie County, Pennsylvania, so might as well keep rolling with Arizona content from this past August, namely, continuing on with yesterday’s post of an amazing SEAZ Birding Festival field trip to California Gulch.

Time for some orientation/map reading. Q1: Where are we? A1: Cornado National Forest well south of Tucson and west of Nogales, in the mountainous area north of the border with Mexico. See green area in map excerpt above. (1971 AZ road map courtesy of AZDOT.) Note the proximity of world-famous “birding hotspot” Madera Canyon in the upper right corner. Q2: Where are we going? A2: Yesterday was the turn off Interstate 19 at Arivaca Junction, then southwest to the town of Arivaca, then southeast from Arivaca towards the mining ghost town of Ruby. Q3: Where is California Gulch? A3: With reference to the annotated map excerpt below (courtesy AZDOT & Bing Roads), instead of heading directly to Ruby, head south along Warsaw Canyon Rd to where it intersects with California Gulch Rd at point A below. California Gulch is roughly along the green line. Point A is “the confluence,” i.e., of Warsaw Canyon and California Gulch.

Following “on the road” shots are along Warsaw Canyon Rd heading downhill towards the confluence:

Note on weather conditions: mild-to-warm, with on/off sun, clouds, & rain. Tough lighting for photography.

Note on road conditions: mostly single-track dirt road w/ some rough spots + stream crossings. Suitable for pickup trucks & other high-clearance vehicles, e.g., a Toyota RAV4 or Subaru Outback.

This close to the border, had some distant views of “the wall:”

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After a lot of slow mountain driving, finally at the confluence:

A highlight of the day, right as hoped for at the confluence, a beautiful Five-striped Sparrow (following shots all Five-striped Sparrow except where noted):

The “five stripes” – 1 @ throat, 2 @ cheeks, & 2 @ eye ridges:

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Coming up soon, more at the confluence, & beyond!

It’s a cold & rainy Friday in Erie County, Pennsylvania today, so harkening back to warmer climes with (finally!) digital photographs from an epic field trip this past August with the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival. West of Nogales, AZ and just north of the border with Mexico, it’s a rugged, mountainous area essentially combining wilderness & open- range cattle grazing. There lies the remote California Gulch, famous for Five-striped Sparrow & adventurous birding generally.

After an absurdly early start at 4:30am, the first stop was a bathroom break at Arivaca Cienega, part of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, just outside the tiny town of Arivaca (approx. 100 km SW of Tucson). In the parking lot, a great sighting of male Western Tanager.

Next up, a roadside stop south of Arivaca along S. Ruby Rd. Far in the distance, beautiful views of Baboquivari Peak, sacred to the Tohono O’odham people:

Also, birds:

More Western Kingbird:

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Randomly along the road, an amazing encounter with a beautiful Gray Hawk, perched on what looked like an old Century Plant (Agave americana) bloom stalk:

(These shots taken from the field trip van.)

With Common Raven in background (very blurry to right of hawk):

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More shots of Gray Hawk, + Western Kingbird:

ID tip on the Western Kingbird – note the distinctive outer white tail feathers visible in this shot:

GHIF (Gray Hawk in flight) – wow!

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More on this plant in upcoming posts, but just an amazing amount of native Velvetpod Mimosa (Mimosa dysocarpa) shrubs in bloom, all over:

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Finally for today’s post, another roadside stop, this time w/ rainbow:

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Well, the power’s out on this Wednesday rainy/stormy evening here at BirdingPI.com HQ. (Public utility electrical power, to be clear.) Before running out of candles and/or battery charge on the laptop or iPhone (acting as WiFi ‘hotspot’), and in case things don’t improve by morning, might as well finalize tomorrow’s post. So, with a drumroll please, at No. 1 (of the Top 10 list of birdy things to do at Presque Isle State Park on a slow autumn day), it’s Quality time with PI’s resident Eastern Screech-Owl!

Presque Isle State Park’s resident Eastern Screech-Owl can be enjoyed, at a distance, from the main park road just west of Fisher Drive bridge where the two bike trails converge.

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Finally, very fascinating reading on the right way to enjoy wild birds. Yet another reason to support the amazing Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Ah, Erie County, Pennsylvania, land of beauty! Just step outside, there’s Bald Eagles soaring majestically overhead!

What’s that Bald Eagle doing?

Ah. Stuff happens, apparently.

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Anyway. At a big No. 2 on the Top 10 list (of birding things to do on a slow autumn day at Presque Isle State Park), it’s “hike to Gull Point.” Weather permitting. Number One rule of Presque Isle: Gull Point is always a good idea, unless the weather is bad, in which case it’s a bad idea.

Heard Snow Bunting multiple times + seen distantly in flight; following was the only individual spotted on the ground:

Following landscape shots taken from the very furthest ‘pointy part’ of Gull Point (accessible in the off season):

Great to see a Greater Yellowlegs still, on one of the bayside-facing lagoons:

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For an even bigger post, time for ‘bonus’ content. First, here’s the old observation platform taken from the very furthest end of Gull Point (where it wraps around), by where the main lagoon complex exits into the lake:

With reference to BirdingPI.com’s fine map of Gull Point, this location is pointed to by the red arrow in this excerpt:

Main lagoon complex with the two observation platforms against the horizon on left (old) and middle (new):

Following shot is from the furthest end of outer Gull Point, showing (i) outer Gull Point tree line and (ii) the main lagoon complex exit channel (lake is on the left). Usually impassible (w/o getting very wet), seems like this is the lowest/dryest it’s been any time recently:

Finally, Greater Yellowlegs video. Maybe.

Back with more Downy Woodpecker + Ring-billed Gull drop-catch behavior at Leo’s Landing:

After a rather gloomy, monochromatic weekend in Erie County, Pennsylvania, here are correspondingly mostly monochromatic photographs from Leo’s Landing the previous weekend. Conveniently, it’s also No. 3 on the “Top 10 list of birding things to do on a slow autumn weekend at Presque Isle State Park,” namely, hang out at Leo’s Landing, weather permitting.

Here’s part 1 of some really interesting Ring-billed Gull behavior. Specifically, repeatedly dropping and then fetching a stick in the water, i.e., drop-catch. Predation practice/foraging behavior? Just for fun? In this context, science suggests the latter. Fascinating.