It’s a Common Grackle in the rain at Leo’s Landing! Happy Friday!
[Editor’s note: for readers in time zones 13+ hours ahead of U.S. EDT, we wish you a happy Saturday.]
1/Grackle
#More_spring (2)
2nd post today, finishing up from this last weekend along the Long Pond Trail at Presque Isle State Park, under cool/sunny conditions:
#More_spring (1)
Remiss in not previously mentioning, thanks to a generous grant from ACNAGP, BirdingPI.com is now able to offer officially licensed nature-related cartoon art in its occasional daily content, while funding lasts. Please enjoy.
No post yesterday due to field operations scheduling conflicts. Making up for it today with 2x posts wrapping up with Long Pond Trail last weekend, featuring a beautiful Pine Warbler:
Also, better lit shots of a beautiful Palm Warbler:
Not the best shots of Pine Warbler, but included to show wing colouration:
Spring has Sprung
Reporting today from the Long Pond Trail @ Presque Isle State Park this past Sunday, featuring another great, new-for-spring migrant, the lovely Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:
This is a really long distance, bad picture, but still just possible to see an adult Bald Eagle @ sitting on the nest:
Very shady/poorly lit, but still a very lucky shot of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in flycatching mode:
Off to the Races
Highly variable weather in Erie County, Pennsylvania over the weekend. Warm and windy with hazy sunshine Saturday morning, followed by heavy rain and dropping temps in the afternoon. Cold and mostly sunny Sunday. Cold again overnight, turning cloudy, with on/off light snow (!) this morning. Despite the conditions, happy to report sightings of Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Pine Warbler, w/ ‘re-sightings’ of Yellow-rumped Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo. These shots from Saturday at Leo’s Landing at Presque Isle State Park, in moderate to heavy rain. (Thank you, Nikon camera equipment weatherproofing.)
Finally, three shots in chronological order of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet shaking off the rain:
Weather expected to be cold again tonight, but back to normal the rest of the week. Happy birding!
Sunday Funnies
Today’s post “brought to you” by United AirlinesTM: Good Leads the Way.TM
College Drop-in
Still at the lovely College of San Mateo from back in March, featuring beautiful western N.A. birds!
ID note on Bushtit: Pacific variants, as her, male = dark eye, female = light eye.
Going “Boating”
Another late post today due to ongoing BirdingPI.com field operations at the start of migration season here in ‘mostly always wet with rain’ Erie County, Pennsylvania. These shots from a couple days ago at East Avenue Boat Launch, featuring gorgeous White-throated Sparrow:
Runner Up
Celebrating one of the first BirdingPI.com warblers of the year w/ beautiful Yellow-rumped Warbler at Presque Isle State Park the other day (proximate an American Tree Sparrow @ bathing):
On the Trail
Super late post today due to all BirdingPI.com staff being out in the field for the start of migration season. Weather in Erie County, PA today: warm/mild-ish, but highly volatile, e.g., alternating sun and overcast with thunderstorms/light rain. Happy to report, however, confirmed sightings of 4 Yellow-rumped Warblers at 2 different locations the past couple days (!). While waiting on photo editing, here’s content along the Pine Tree Trail at Presque Isle State Park from this past weekend:
Really nice sighting of a Hermit Thrush right along the trail. Note the rufous tail contrasting w/ brown back:
Rest of this post, nice sightings of lovely Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Lots of Sapsucker activity this spring so far (more than usual), but typically they’re only around for a couple weeks before heading north in Canada.
