It’s the most beautiful bird at Presque Isle State Park, the amazing Gray Catbird! (This post brought to you by the American Gray Catbird! Appreciation Society, NW Pennsylvania Chapter.)
This individual (+ another nearby Catbird!) was quite vocal and persistent right along the ‘inner’ Gull Point Trail near the trailhead. Couldn’t tell if it was a juvenile crying for food, or an adult exhibiting nesting season aggressiveness.
More July 4th content from Presque Isle State Park @ Gull Point. (Post includes some previously posted preview photos.)
‘Bird of the day,’ an amazing American Avocet:
Beautiful Short-billed Dowitcher in flight & foraging in the lagoon:
American Avocet & Willet in flight:
Plus a surprise Whimbrel!
Dateline: 30 June 2024
Taking a break from July 4th coverage to return to the previous Sunday afternoon at Gull Point, with great/rare sightings of both Marbled Godwit (a BirdingPI.com ‘first ever’ at this location) & beautiful Tricolored Heron. All shots long distance @ 400mm from the observation platforms.
Alternating shots of Tricolored Heron & Godwit:
Finally, the Marbled Godwit took flight, seemingly departing Gull Point for points south:
According to reports, previous day there might have been as many as 4+ Marbled Godwits at Gull Point (e.g., after the heavy rain), but it was great to see even one, as here.
Part II of lots of photos from Gull Point on July 4th, at Presque Isle State Park.
Three of beautiful/uncommon Willet backlit against morning sun:
Reporting from Presque Isle State Park, it’s Part I of complete coverage of a rather excellent July 4th morning at Gull Point, generally in chronological order:
Nice sequence of Killdeer bathing:
Finally for today, three shots of a beautiful Short-billed Dowitcher:
Dateline: 5-6 July 2024
Per the BirdingPI.com organizational charter, any sighting of a “new” owl (i.e., not a recurring sighting) should be followed by an ‘afternoon’ of Presque Isle beach cleanup within 10 business days. Give a screech, clean a beach!TM
Friday, a surprise daytime sighting of a very gray-coloured Barred Owl (see above – poor quality iPhone photo). Saturday, beach cleanup at Presque Isle State Park:
Besides a broken fishing pole and an old stuffed toy or two, the main culprit (not unexpectedly): plastic and lots of it. Mostly single-use plastic bottles, followed by food wrappers, on one of the bay-side beaches near Gull Point.
There’s always room for birding, especially on such a beautiful Saturday, including this great encounter of a gorgeous Red-headed Woodpecker near the park entrance:
At outer Gull Point itself, not as much unusual activity as July 4th, but still plenty of great sightings, e.g., Lesser & Greater Yellowlegs, Common & Caspian Terns, & Short-billed Dowitcher. Photographs forthcoming. The ‘bird of the day,’ a very unusual sighting of Least Tern, perhaps the first sighting here since 2022:
On site, thought this very small tern might be a juvenile Common Tern. But after reviewing the literature, no tern chicks match this plumage pattern & colouration. Factors to consider: (i) a classic black tern cap; (ii) yellow legs & pointy yellow beak; (iii) light gray on the wings; (iv) very small; & (v) very distinctive and well-delineated black eye stripe = Least Tern.
Side views showing eye stripe & yellow, pointy bill:
Coming up soon, more birds!
Recent shots of several beautiful American Kestrel in an essentially abandoned industrial/field-y/woody area in Lawrence Park Township, Erie County, PA:
Interesting concurrent sighting of what appears to be an Amazon drone delivery under their new Prime Same-DayTM fish delivery service:
[Editor’s note: one section of the post above may contain satirical content. Although, that is a really big fish!]
From a few days ago, a great, not-too-common sighting of beautiful Eastern Meadowlark in an abandoned grassy lot in Lawrence Park Township, PA:
Wishing folks in the United States of America a happy Independence Day!
No better way to spend the holiday than birding at Presque Isle State Park, especially with “A+” conditions at Gull Point. Quick edits of some preliminary shots from this morning:
Sadly, no fly photographs in this post. It was the Sunday-before-last after the rain, on the Pine Tree Trail: loads of insects, & loads of birds eating said insects. Fun times until the clouds of biting flies appeared near the west trailhead. Bad news when the BirdingPI.com van’s at the east trailhead.
What to do if attacked by flies at the west Pine Tree Trail trailhead? (i) Retreat to parked vehicle; or (ii) lacking said vehicle, retreat to nearby beach! Here’s a fly-free medley of Ring-billed Gull, Canada Geese on the beach, Spotted Sandpiper, & Herring Gull. Not fly-free generally, rather insect fly-free. Since there are birds flying.
[Photo Editor’s note: shot above, + three below of flying gulls = all Herring Gull.]
Once at the beach (by Pine Tree Trail west trailhead), easy, pleasant walk back to the east trailhead, mostly sans flies. Plus leisurely time to ‘enjoy’ the entrance to Budny Beach, and bunnies!
Erie County, PA weather forecast looks good for the 4th of July holiday & following weekend. (Perhaps some rain Friday afternoon/evening.) Wishing everyone happy nature/birding!