With spring bird migration at Presque Isle State Park in the “rearview mirror,” time to break out the specialized equipment for insect photography. Which is mostly the same as the bird equipment. Ahem. Anyway, following’s a rather special ‘photo report’ of recent misc. insects on a blooming Desert False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) shrub, by the beach to the east of Stull Interpretive Center.

Desert False Indigo varies in terms of sprawl, but is generally a waist- to chest-high shrub with numerous conical elongate purple and orange flowers:

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[Photo Editor’s note: some of the insect photographs on the website use the exact same equipment as for birds, e.g., dragonflies @ 400mm. These shots are with a 105mm lens (not very useful for birds) in macro mode.]

Morning photography @ Leo’s Landing, from last week at Presque Isle State Park:

Two shots of an Osprey being chased, apparently, by an Eastern Kingbird:

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Beautiful male (black cap) & female (w/o black cap) American Goldfinch:

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[Editor’s note: “YWIF” = Yellow Warbler in flight.]

Lots & lots of male and female Red-winged Blackbird at different locations in Erie County, PA:

Yup, it’s recent Canada Goose @ Presque Isle State Park, Erie County, PA.

Shot above – adult Canada Goose exhibiting ‘hissing’/warning behavior. Shots below – landing at outer Gull Point:

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Canada Geese (adults & juveniles) at Long Pond boat landing no. 3:

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Canada Geese on outer Lake Erie off Budny Beach in the morning:

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Finally, a few more shots by Long Pond:

Lots of photographs from an early morning trek to Gull Point last week, @ Presque Isle State Park. (Shot above is looking east towards North Pier & South Pier.)

In the shot above, it’s North Pier on the left and South Pier on the right. … Following shots are juvenile Killdeer in the Budny Beach parking lot:

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Not much shorebird activity other than Spotted Sandpiper:

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Nice sequence of Bald Eagle flying from outer Gull Point towards Thompson Bay:

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As usual this time of year, lots of Red-winged Blackbird activity:

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Been a good year for Common Tern @ outer Gull Point:

ID tips: smaller than Caspian Tern w/ much smaller, pointier bill + forked tail; distinguished from Forster’s Tern by (i) location/time of year; (ii) gray-ish belly; and (iii) black banding on the outer upper-wing primaries (see the black colour on the ends of the wings in the shot above).

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GBH taking off from interior pond + flight over Lake Erie w/ clouds:

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Next, it’s the yearly BirdingPI.com mention of beautiful Hairy Puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense), uncommon/endangered at Presque Isle but currently in bloom along the main park road to the east of Presque Isle Lighthouse (look for the roped-off ‘habitat restoration’ area on the south side of the road, i.e., the side opposite the lake/beach):

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Finally, bonus Eastern Cottontail video!

Lots of rabbits at Presque Isle State Park. This Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) spotted the other morning along the Gull Point Trail.

Most often, rabbits will startle rather quickly. This lovely/cute individual seemed rather unconcerned with human presence, to a point.

Best time/place to see rabbits at Presque Isle: early morning on any grassy area.

Fascinating to see the individual/swiveling ear control:

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This individual seemed quite healthy (as do the rabbits generally at Presque Isle), but did have an engorged tick on its face. Not surprising considering the substantial local tick population.

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Finally, in ongoing bird news, the pair of beautiful Mute Swans were sighted again yesterday on Thompson Bay. Pretty far away when viewed from the Thompson Circle access (in the lagoon to the east of the Osprey platform), but even so, here’s a fairly well formed “Swan heart” (cropped @ 600mm):

Another quick post today to mention beautiful (and uncommon at Presque Isle) Mute Swans have been sighted recently on Thompson Bay. These (long distance) shots from early yesterday morning:

Used to seeing adults where the bills are very orange & have a very pronounced “front bulge.” With lighter-coloured bills, these are probably juveniles/1st year.

ASIH Warning: This post contains images of dead fish.

Sadly, in the last few+ days the lovely fragrance of Multiflora Rose at Leo’s Landing has been supplanted by a pronounced (and surprisingly widespread) dead fish odour. The culprit: dead fish.

“Dead fish on the beach” is a regular occurrence at Presque Isle State Park, but usually only in the singular, or maybe two. Spotted the other morning at Leo’s Landing: 8+ dead fish along one small section of the westside beach on Presque Isle Bay.

Coincidence? Environmental factors? Lake level is good/high, & weather has been normal (e.g., not overly warm). Be interesting to check water temp levels and algae loads; further investigation required.

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Moving on to a more pleasant topic, it’s a ‘mashup’ of Spotted Sandpiper in flight x other birds (as indicated) at Leo’s Landing:

Big thunderstorms in Erie County, PA Wednesday evening into Thursday. Not sure if it was the rain or just a coincidence, but there was an amazing Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) out in the open in a patch of sidewalk-adjacent grass in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). Seen digging in the dirt, but couldn’t tell if it was for laying eggs, foraging, or some other purpose.

A bevy of bird photos in Erie County, PA from late May and early June. Following is the view north from East Ave boat launch, with Canada Geese, North Pier (North Pier sand pile is on the left), Thompson Bay, inner Gull Point (the trees), & billowing clouds over Lake Erie:

Beautiful Red-tailed Hawks in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”):

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Song Sparrows w/ and w/o food, @ woods by East Ave boat launch:

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Couple shots of cute Eastern Wood-Pewee:

ID tip: note the vested look.

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And beautiful female and male Brown-headed Cowbirds, somewhere along the Gull Point Trail:

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Lost distance shots, but nevertheless, here’s a Willow Flycatcher by Long Pond:

Note the overall olive/yellow colouration + wing bars + white throat:

Generally, Willow Flycatcher and Alder Flycatcher look almost identical; this one was positively identified as Willow based on voice/call using Merlin.

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Short medley of Northern Cardinal & Yellow Warbler (in a blackberry bush):

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Finally, it’s Chipping Sparrow exhibiting nest material gathering behavior at Pine Tree Meadows (across the road from Pine Tree Trail west trailhead @ Presque Isle State Park):