From Saturday at Presque Isle State Park, it’s a Gray Catbird! exhibiting food carrying behaviour. Foolish to anthropomorphize, but this Catbird! seemed very happy with its insect catch.

It’s another on/off rainy morning today in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Yesterday afternoon, lots of nice shorebird activity at Presque Isle State Park, but just a “PSA” that the access road past Waldameer is down to two lanes – one ‘in’ and one ‘out’ – due to construction. Depending on time of day, allocate at least an extra 20 minutes of traffic wait time to exit Presque Isle 🙁

(Bird IDS, right to left: Semipalmated Plover (x2), Short-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, & Short-billed Dowitcher x7.)

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While waiting on photo editing, here’s another contender for prettiest BirdingPI.com post of the year, back at Asbury Woods, featuring beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus):

Also what’s probably Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae) on Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) or similar species in the Silphium genus: 

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On/off rainy conditions this Saturday morning in Erie County, Pennsylvania; field operations are “on hold.” Pulling more shots from the archive, from back in spring at Leo’s Landing at Presque Isle State Park. (All these birds also regularly seen in the summer.)

Caspian Terns + one gulping down a fish:

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[Editor’s note: not entirely sure if the tern above is Common Tern or Forster’s Tern…]

Well, if this isn’t the prettiest BirdingPI.com post of the year, it’s going to be a good year. All recent shots under cloudy conditions at Asbury Woods, Millcreek Twp, PA (“Since 1800”).

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Photo IDs: (i, iii, v, vii, ix, xi, xiii, xv, xviii, xx, xxii, xiv) Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) on Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa); (ii, iv, vi, x, xii, xvi, xvii, xix, xxi, xxiii) Song Sparrow on probably Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum); (viii) Cup Plant; & (xiv) Song Sparrow foraging berries in woods.

Early Saturday morning at Leo’s Landing, Presque Isle State Park. An immature, molting Yellow Warbler forages on and off Feather Platform:

Other birds do other bird stuff, like sitting on a branch, like this whatever it is (immature Gray Catbird!, immature Robin, immature Starling?)

Also dive fishing:

Or floating on water:

Or more branch-perching:

Guess there’s lots of floating or perching…:

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Coming up soon, pretty flowers, pretty butterflies, pretty birds!

Big news on the Gull Point Trail this past weekend was the unexpected installation of what appears to be a new interpretive (?) sign/kiosk at the trailhead at the Budny Beach parking lot:

Currently, the kiosk is lacking content, i.e., empty. Perhaps a good spot for a poster like one of the following?

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Moving on to more important matters, it’s back to birds along the Gull Point Trail on Saturday, starting with an American Robin foraging for berries:

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Here’s a quite distant but quite fun sighting of immature Piping Plover, w/ dark bill and very pale/white overall:

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At outer Gull Point, on one of the main lagoons, it’s Bank Swallow flycatching over the water, w/ reflections:

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Finally, on one of the bayside beaches, here’s a Semipalmated Plover exhibiting robin-like “foraging for earthworms” behaviour:

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Today, it’s a special post of a rather remarkable recent sighting of an amazing Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe), a species of hawk moth, feeding on Wild Bergamot (a.k.a. Bee Balm)(Monarda fistulosa) at Asbury Woods in Millcreek Twp, PA (“Since 1800”).

All these shots were at 500mm under cloudy conditions, i.e., not the best conditions. Hawk moths (like this Hummingbird Clearwing) beat their wings > 80 times/second, faster than some hummingbird birds. They’re also rather fast moving generally. Most of these photographs were taken with a shutter speed of 1/4000 second*, to capture motion and reduce wing blurriness.

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[*Photo Editor’s note: Nikon D850 = an actual shutter, as opposed to equivalent exposure times in a mirrorless digital camera like the Nikon Z8 or Z9. (Most of the photos on BirdingPI.com are taken with a Z8 or Z9.)]

Before bird content, we’re long overdue for BirdingPI.com staff introductions, starting today with William “Stone” Rykoff (Lt Co, USAF, Retired), BirdingPI.com’s Senior Contributing Editor and Chief Field Photographer. With BSEE and MSEE degrees from Caltech, Lt. Colonel Rykoff (‘Stone’) served a long career in the USAF as technical officer in charge of ‘electronic photography’ for the [redacted] Project, singularly responsible for [redated], not to mention his role as [redated] for the [redacted]. After retiring from the Air Force, Stone returned to his adopted hometown of Lawrence Park, Pennsylvania, where he took up nature photography as a ‘serious hobby’ during the pandemic. In addition to photography, Stone enjoys reading 19th century mystery novels, takeout from Taco Bell, time with his grandchildren, & long-distance target practice with firearms .50 caliber or larger.

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Moving back to nature content, it was a beautiful day in Erie County on Saturday. These shots from outer Gull Point relatively early morning, starting with blooming pond lilies in the lagoon closest to the start of the rope trail. (As invasive, most of the pond lilies have been eradicated, but a few abide.)

Following shots are all Short-billed Dowitcher and Semipalmated Plover. So great to see the plovers again, first time since May! (ID hints: Dowitcher – long bill; Semipalmated Plover – orange and black beak, single black chest band.)

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A beautiful July day yesterday in Erie County, Pennsylvania – sunny and warm but overall relatively mild. Nice bird sightings at Gull Point included plenty of lovely Semipalmated Plover and Short-billed Dowitcher. Digital photographs of both are in the queue for tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, it’s back to spring at Leo’s Landing, featuring beautiful Green Heron:

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Getting the weekend off to a good start with an early AM quarter moon this morning:

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Following are swallows @ outer Gull Point last weekend, along the roped-off trail to the observation platforms. All beautiful Bank Swallow a.k.a. Sand Martin, unless otherwise indicated.

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