First up, very special pictures of what may be the first ever BirdingPI.com coverage of Purple Finch in Erie County, PA! (Much less common than House Finch.) Taken recently at West Road Elk Creek access.

ID tip: typical finch features w/ an overall red-purple/raspberry wash.

Also exciting, amazing Purple Martin “in the wild.” Meaning not at or around a Purple Martin house. These pictures from the swampy area near the east Long Pond Trail trailhead.

Following are alternating Purple Finch & Purple Martin:

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It wouldn’t be complete coverage without a comparison to House Finch. Following shots are of beautiful males in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). Note the similar features but much less extensive red-purple colour:

Recent shots of male Red-winged Blackbird in flight in Erie County, PA, at West Road Elk Creek access. (More on this very interesting location coming up soon.)

Looks like nice weather Friday & Sunday, maybe rain Saturday. Happy birding/nature!

Warm temps and big thunderstorms yesterday and overnight in Erie County, PA. Weather this morning: sunny & plenty of bird activity. Time to get out into nature – just avoid the mud & wet grass!

Following, another lengthy posting of pleasant photos from the other morning at Presque Isle State Park, at Leo’s Landing:

Thank goodness – no crazy annotated photographs in today’s post. (Yikes.) Just pleasant bird photographs from Presque Isle State Park, taken a couple weeks ago (more or less) in the morning at Leo’s Landing.

[Editor’s note: the bird in the second photograph above appears to be a Bald Eagle, maybe.]

Time for recent long-distance observations at Gull Point. With a camera + long lens (most shots below @ 1200mm), lots of heat shimmer on a warm day = blurry birds. Nevertheless, a useful tool for interesting bird ID’s/sightings.

First up, terns! The most common tern @ Presque Isle State Park is Caspian Tern, the world’s largest tern species. Which is confusing, esp. for this post, because there’s a species actually called Common Tern. (Another awful/generic bird name.) And speaking of both, here’s a shot of mixed Caspian Tern, Common Tern, and what might be a juvenile Bonaparte’s Gull (?) on the lower right:

Let’s discuss this ID. Caspian Terns: relatively large, distinctive tern black cap, chunky/dagger-like red-orange bill. In the annotated shot below, Caspian Terns @ “A.” Best way to ID other tern species generally, if possible, is based on size. Note the terns at “B” – similar looking overall (black cap, pointy red or orange bill) but much smaller. Could be any of several smaller tern species, but at Presque Isle the non-rare options* would be Common Tern or Forster’s Tern. Meaning, start there for an ID analysis.

Both Common Tern and Forster’s Tern have a forked tail, so this shot is not terribly helpful:

OTOH, Common Tern typically has a gray belly and a thinner, reddish, black-tipped bill, whereas Forster’s = white belly and heavier, orange-ish, black-tipped bill.

In the annotated shot below, note what appears to be a gray belly at “A.” The bill at “B” appears orange-ish, but is very thin and straight:

Another factor: wing colouration. Common Tern has darker gray wings outlined by black at the tips, mostly visible in flight:

In this annotation, note the black-looking wing tip region at “A,” and again, the gray belly at “B:”

Another view of dark wing tips:

And another interesting clue, this time the bird @ lower right:

In the following annotation, note the colouration pointed to by the arrow. As per the experts, “Immatures and nonbreeding adults have a distinctive black bar on the leading edge of the wing, known as a carpal bar.”

So, very possibly an immature Common Tern. Another view:

In conclusion, small size, consistent bill, gray belly, dark wing tip regions, + possible juvenile = positive ID for Common Tern!

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Moving on, a much easier ID of a blurry but still cute adult Piping Plover:

Note the single narrow breast band, thin black head band, and overall relatively light face/head colouration:

Semipalmated Plover (the next likeliest species at this location) would be overall larger, overall darker, & with a much darker overall face/head.

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Another easier ID, it’s a blurry but great Black-bellied Plover:

Factors for this ID: relatively large, + black belly, + lacks the black top-of-head patch of an American Golden-Plover (which would be rare for this location/time anyway).

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Enough long-distance, time for some ‘bonus’ not-as-blurry birds:

And as if this post isn’t long enough already, a great sequence of American Kestrel @ flying & landing:

This is one of the several Gull Point outwards-facing “Don’t moor within 100 yards of shore” (or something like that) warning signs for boaters, reflecting the protected nesting season status:

* Tip: to see the mostly likely candidates for the date/location in question, pull up the eBird checklist, which defaults to “non-rare.” For Gull Point in May, the most common tern options are Common, Forster’s, & Caspian. (Plenty of other ways to utilize eBird in this regard, such as looking at species reporting bar charts for recent years; here, 2023 reporting shows more reportings of Caspian and Common Terns in May, but fewer Forster’s.)

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Coming soon, very blue and purple birds!

Sorry obscure 18th-century English naturalist Anna Blackburne, but even if you were a nice person, “Blackburnian” is an awful (and awfully arbitrary/random) name for such a beautiful bird. So, it’s pictures from Saturday on the Pine Tree Trail of an amazing male Orange Flame Warbler, in chronological order:

Great example of foraging from a spider’s web:

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Dateline: 18 May 2024

Somehow finagled quick turnaround from the BirdingPI.com photo editing team on these shots from yesterday at Presque Isle State Park along the Gull Point Trail in the afternoon. Guess everyone has warbler fever!

Conditions here and in the Pine Tree Trail area yesterday were rather excellent. Most ‘common’ warbler species spotted except Palm & Black-throated Blue. Even an unprecedented sighting (i.e., two days in a row) of amazing male Canada Warbler, in the willow thickets close to outer Gull Point:

Big news was a significant uptick in Bay-breasted Warbler sightings, like this (probably) lovely female:

(Seems in past year the Bay-breasted Warblers passed through much earlier = some worry it was going to be a light year for this lovely species.)

More Bay-breasted Warbler:

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Meanwhile, PM shorebird activity on the Point was fairly light. (Yellowlegs, Dunlin, etc.)

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Coming up soon, lots of warblers on the Pine Tree Trail!

The amazing/beautiful Canada Warbler: uncommon enough at Presque Isle State Park for any sighting to be a special occasion. Throw in a few minutes of a mostly clear view at eye level the other morning along the Duck Pond Trail, and it’s warbler portraiture gold.

Bonus action/fly-catching shot:

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[Editor’s note: “Bird portraiture:” a bird perched on a branch, standing on ground, or floating in water, not engaged in any particular activity, where the anatomical, etc. features are clear for conveying a sense of species ID.]

So much bird excitement at Presque Isle State Park, running very late on today’s post. (“Spoiler alert:” Canada Warbler!) Ahead of the weekend, lots of ongoing American Robin, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Gray Catbird!, Yellow Warbler, Song Sparrow, etc. activity. So much so, hard to keep an eye out for the less common offerings. Warbler activity overall remains good, but erratic. Same with shorebirds, e.g., Semipalmated, Piping, and Black-bellied Plover sighted at Gull Point recently, otherwise fairly quiet other than Spotted Sandpiper.

More recent sightings forthcoming; here’s Leo’s Landing @ early morning (e.g., 7AM) on Global Big Day last Saturday.

“Bird of the outing,” beautiful male Blackpoll Warbler:

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Recent photographs from Presque Isle-adjacent Scott Park in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”), right around sunset:

This next/lengthy sequence captures (as best possible for still photos) a rather amazing behavior – three Cedar Waxwing in a tree, passing a small piece of vegetative matter (seed pod?) back and forth for at least 5 minutes:

Per Internet sources, this is probably social behavior, e.g., passing food between birds as a social activity or so each bird has a chance to eat. (Other option is mating behavior, which doesn’t seem applicable here.) Very cool to see!

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