Back to Presque Isle State Park shorebirds, focusing on a lovely Pectoral Sandpiper this past Sunday at Beach 11. Field markings: yellow-green legs like a Least Sandpiper, but overall larger, + a bi-coloured bill, + a noticeably stippled/finely streaked breast terminating fairly sharply at a white underside:

Lots more PESA below; first, here’s some “other birds” same location/day:

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All Pectoral Sandpiper + bathing behaviour:

Reasonably good view of stippled breast/white underside:

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Finally, a view of outer Gull Point from Beach 11. The “dark birds” are all Double-crested Cormorants:

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Anecdotally, lots of nice shorebird activity recently at Presque Isle State Park. Best locations: Beach 11 & Gull Point, also Leo’s Landing, and other outer beaches. ‘Songbird’ migration so far fairly muted and/or in ‘negative space,’ e.g., a few weeks ago there were dozens of Yellow Warbler all over, now it’s dropped way off. (Yellow Warblers migrate early, so likely mostly headed south already). On the other hand (for example), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher sightings are way up:

Common Yellowthroat are around all summer, but sightings can be erratic. Here’s a recent female at Leo’s Landing:

More recent nature in the category of ‘things you might see at Presque Isle’ in late August:

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Today, it’s a super long post with the rest of the content from Closed For Swimming @ Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park:

More Sanderlings:

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From the other weekend at outer Gull Point:

(Shot above: both Yellowlegs, could be Greater Yellowlegs on right and Lesser Yellowlegs on left, or it’s a juvenile/immature.)

The ‘bird of the month,’ a great sighting of a ‘rarely shows up at Gull Point’ Stilt Sandpiper (left, w/ Yellowlegs on right):

ID on Stilt Sandpiper – scaley, sandpiper-esque back feathers, relatively long and droopy bill like a Dunlin, white eyebrow, long green-yellow legs that are much less yellow than Yellowlegs:

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More views of Stilt Sandpiper w/ Yellowlegs:

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Good year in Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania (“Since 1800”) for beautiful/amazing Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, even seen in groups of three, or as here, two (female and probably a molting/immature male):

Lots of “sand bug” activity on the Presque Isle State Park outer beaches, and lots of birds taking advantage of it. Not only sandpipers and plovers, but ‘shorebirds’ like the beautiful Red-headed Woodpecker and Eastern Kingbird. All shots at the far east end of Budny Beach last Sunday.

Following all Eastern Kingbird:

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Going back to the end of July @ Asbury Woods (Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania – “Since 1800”) with lovely butterflies on flowers. All shots Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) or Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) unless noted otherwise.

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Coming up soon, back to more shorebirds! #more_bird

Reporting today from this past weekend at “closed for swimming for the season” Beach 11 @ Presque Isle State Park, where it’s been a pretty nice year for shorebirds, e.g., as in this view of the “Beach 11 sandbar” w/ Semipalmated Plovers and Thompson Bay in the background:

Least Sandpiper hop-flying:

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Looks like Beach 10 and Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park are closed for swimming for the season due to high water bacterial counts, from a seasonal average perspective. Bad for beachgoers, good for birders and wildlife.

These shots from Saturday along the Gull Point ‘beach trail,’ where the ‘beach bird’ of the day was beautiful Gray Plover a.ka. Black-bellied Plover:

Also lots and lots of Semipalmated Plover:

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Both plover species, here’s a handy size comparison of Killdeer (right) vs. Semipalmated Plover (left):

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Semipalmated Plover beach landing sequence:

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Rest of this post, more Gray Plover x Semipalmated Plover:

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[Editor’s note: in breeding plumage, American Golden Plover (the only other likely large plover seen in Erie County) would have a black cap and a fully black underside, e.g., black undertail coverts, plus shimmery light gold accents on the back, in proper lighting.]

Interesting weather Sunday in Erie County, Pennsylvania – heavy thunderstorms rolled through around 6:30AM, followed by partial clearing then on/off clouds and localized rain. After the downpour, a beautiful day.

Shot above is the view from Beach 11 of Thompson Bay, with Gull Point on the horizon right. Earlier, at the first bayside beach access along the Gull Point Trail (right of horizon center in photo above), a Peregrine Falcon was flying across the bay:

Concurrently, out for dive fishing, a Belted Kingfisher:

With other birds as prey, the Peregrine Falcon was quite interested:

As shown following, with the Falcon nearly overhead, the Kingfisher dove underwater w/ a large splash:

Unsure if this was an escape tactic, or if it hadn’t yet noticed its pursuer and was still in ‘fishing mode:’

Once out of the water, realizing its peril, the Kingfisher flew off very low and very fast:

Guessing the very low flight path was probably purposeful, e.g., the Kingfisher is comfortable in/by the water, the falcon less so:

The chase continued with some tight turns and further chasing north across the bay:

Eventually the Kingfisher made its way around a small group of floating Canada Geese:

About that time, the Peregrine Falcon gave up chase, the Kingfisher home free:

The falcon continued on its way towards Gull Point:

Later, by where the ‘official’ Gull Point Trail meets back up with the beach, caught a glimpse of what looked like the same falcon snatching a Killdeer or other small bird. (Happened too fast for any photos.) So, the Kingfisher escaped, another bird not so lucky.

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[Editor’s note: Falcon and Kingfisher shots above under cloudy conditions, @ 600mm (some shots cropped, some not), in chronological order.]