Dateline: 17-18 August 2024, Weekend Update

This return to Presque Isle State Park brought to you by gluten free Butterfinger^(R) bar – now featuring “Added colors from real sources:”

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After several weeks of ‘summer hiatus,’ finally able to lure a BirdingPI.com team back out to Gull Point on Saturday with promises of free candy. Erie weather: highly unsettled, warm/humid Saturday morning/early PM turning to rain/thunderstorms, then on/off scattered rain Sunday into a rainy/cool/overcast Monday morning. Trail conditions: locally slightly wet/muddy. Presque Isle bird activity: fairly light inland activity, more-or-less normal/as expected @ Gull Point: lots of Canada Goose, gull, & Double-crested Cormorant activity, + sightings of Black-bellied Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Sanderling, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, & Common Tern:

More Presque Isle weekend shorebirds coming up soon. In the meantime, it’s nature content from a ‘break in the weather’ at Leo’s Landing Sunday afternoon:

Great to see plenty of Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) + Common Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) activity:

Happy to be back in the land of Fox Squirrel & Gray Catbird!

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Coming up eventually, squirrels/critters in Arizona!

Second and final part of amazing Pintail Lake & wetlands outside Show Low, AZ.

Lots of Solitary Sandpiper activity (x3) at the east end of lake:

Far east end of Pintail Lake/wetlands:

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By going “offroad,” possible to completely circumnavigate the lake/wetlands complex (only way to get to the east end of the wetlands), but it’s rough going in spots like this extended field of rocks/rutted soft dirt along the NE side:

Thankfully, there are easy “climb-overs” for the several peripheral barbed wire fences:

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Beautiful Blue-winged Teal in flight:

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In addition to an open viewing platform, there’s this great viewing blind:

Not ideal lighting, but still a great sighting of adult Sora from the viewing blind:

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More bad lighting, but still another great sighting from the viewing blind, of male Yellow-headed Blackbird:

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Coming up soon, it’s back to Presque Isle State Park & Gull Point!

A special second post today (#more_bird) featuring another of the “Top 10 birds of the desert southwest,” the incomparable Vermillion Flycatcher. These morning shots at Christopher Columbus Park on the NW side of Tucson across the (normally dry) Santa Cruz River from Sweetwater Wetlands:

Usually “heard and not seen,” or at least not seen very well deep in the desert shrubbery, great to have a “more or less out in the open” sighting of lovely Bell’s Vireo outside the BIRDS field station:

Back to the top of Mt. Lemmon for more high elevation Arizona birds:

Finally, a sequence of Red-tailed Hawk exhibiting predatory behavior #nature:

Finally got around to checking eBird for heretofore unknown/mysterious birding “hotspots” in the greater Pine Top/Lakeside/Show Low area = a great morning outing to the rather surprising Pintail Lake at Allen Severson Memorial Wildlife Area. (Directions: drive 3.5 miles; 5.6 km north along Route 77 from Show Low towards Snowflake, look for the sign on the right.) Bird of the day: a beautiful White-faced Ibis:

Not the best lighting on the Ibis shots, but still get the idea of the amazing metallic/iridescent colouration of even its non-breeding plumage.

Region north of Show Low is a mix of flat/slight rolling hills w/ volcanic rock, grass/weeds, & old growth Alligator Juniper (Juniperus deppeana), other junipers, and scrub oak. Amidst this rather dry area is the “oasis” of Pintail Lake – a surprisingly large artificial wetland fed w/ Show Low tertiary wastewater.

Two main lake sections divided by a levee/dike, + a third, larger wetland area on the east end that’s mostly cattails.

More White-faced Ibis:

Dateline: 1 August 2024

More great Arizona birds, in the pine forest & meadows at the very top of Mt. Lemmon (2,792 m; 9,159 ft) in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson. Lots of beautiful Red-faced Warbler activity (6+ sighted in the same area) on this particular day/location:

Also lots of Yellow-eyed Junco activity on Mt. Lemmon:

Not the best pictures, but still a nice sighting of Orange-crowned Warbler (note overall yellow/olive colour, pointy beak, broken eye ring with slight eye line, & yellow undertail coverts):

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Coming up next time, more Hermit Warbler & more Mt. Lemmon! #more_bird

More bird, etc. content from an early morning visit to Sweetwater Preserve in the Tucson Mountains – great place for “close to town” classic Sonoran Desert hiking/nature, + popular w/ human mountain bikers and Black-throated Sparrow:

Except where otherwise noted, following shots are Black-throated Sparrow:

Very cute picture of a Verdin looking upwards:

Fun shots of Cactus Wren nestbuilding in a cholla cactus (Cylindropuntia genus, particular species unknown but perhaps Cylindropuntia tunicata a.k.a. Sheathed Cholla), at Sweetwater Preserve in the Tucson Mountains just west of Tucson, AZ:

Sadly, time once again to depart the BIRDS field station for returning to Presque Isle State Park and the forthcoming fall warbler/etc. migration. Lots of great ‘desert’ bird activity this year; “new for BirdingPI.com” sightings included Mountain Bluebird, White-faced Ibis, Neotropic Cormorant, Hermit Warbler, Cassin’s Sparrow, & Green Kingfisher (!), even a quick fly-by of Black-bellied Whistling-Duck. Relative to past years, special mention to lots of great Gray Hawk activity, plus extended viewings of Yellow-headed Blackbird & Five-striped Sparrow:

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Plenty more Arizona content forthcoming; in the meantime, very special shots of lovely Broad-billed Hummingbird & Verdin at a Yellow Bells (a.k.a. Esperanza, a.k.a. Yellow Trumpetbush) plant (Tecoma stans) at Tohono Chul Park: