Lots of controversy at BirdingPI.com over characterizing Mallard as the “world’s most beautiful duck.” In the spirit of avoiding intractable staff conflict, time for a hint of nuance: (i) Mallard: “the most beautiful duck regularly seen relatively close at Presque Isle State Park all year long;” (ii) Wood Duck: “the most beautiful duck occasionally seen relatively close, even if only briefly, at Presque Isle State Park part of the year;” (iii) Northern Shoveler: “the most beautiful duck occasionally seen at a distance at Presque Isle State Park part of the year;” & (vi) Harlequin Duck: “the most beautiful duck almost never seen at Presque Isle State Park, but still possible.” Anyway, after all that tortured exposition, some rather amazing* shots of Wood Duck, taken recently close to the head of Presque Isle Bay. [*Editor’s note: these ducks much less skittish than usual, perhaps due to proximity of road traffic.]

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Bonus shots of “rarely seen out of water” Lesser Scaup (probably):

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Celebrating the first dragonfly of the year, Green Darner (Anax junius) spotted Saturday along the Pine Tree Trail @ Presque Isle State Park:

Flowing tree along the Dead Pond Trail, probably in the Malus genus, e.g., crabapple:

Wild daffodil or other plant in the Narcissus genus:

Following yellow flowers are Yellow Trout-lily (Erythronium americanum):

Finally, two shots of Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta):

Very interesting/amusing to see this European Starling, perched on the side of a building in Lawrence Park Twp, PA (“Since 1926”), suddenly start vocalizing + flapping its wings in a circular motion a la “the windmill.” (Would have been better w/ video, but flew off just after switching to video mode.)

Dateline: 14 April 2024

Highly erratic weather yesterday at Presque Isle State Park as a low pressure system moved through Erie County, PA: clouds, sun, heavy wind, hail, rain, etc. Bad day for Gull Point due to the wind; report forthcoming nevertheless. … In the meantime, more-or-less wrapping it up from last Sunday:

Nice sequence of Chipping Sparrow @ Pine Tree Meadows x Yellow-rumped Warbler @ Gull Point Trail:

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More along the Gull Point Trail + outer Gull Point. Unless otherwise noted, Greater Yellowlegs.

Interesting to see several Northern Flicker @ outer Gull Point. In the following shot, Northern Flicker in flight upper right, + four probably Purple Sandpiper:

No better way to get an early start on the weekend than with lots and lots of well-lit photos of the world’s most beautiful duck, the Mallard, in the swamp at Presque Isle State Park, on the beach and in the surf at East Ave boat launch, & in the air at South Pier:

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Landing sequence:

Heading into the woods at Presque Isle State Park from last Sunday, @ Fox Trail, across the road from Presque Isle Lighthouse. Starting off with a great “first time 2024” sighting of lovely Brown Thrasher:

(Also lots of Brown Thrasher, relatively speaking – e.g., x4 – along the Gull Point Trail.)

Alternating with beautiful Hermit Thrush; note the rufous tail, slight eye-ring, and fairly heavy spotting:

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Finishing up with a nice sequence of Hermit Thrush bathing @ rain/runoff pond in the woods:

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Coming up eventually, Pileated Woodpecker, and lots of ’em!

Part 2 of “birds from this past Saturday” at Presque Isle State Park, starting with more Golden-crowned Kinglet along the Sidewalk Trail:

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Lovely Great Egrets in one of the ponds/swamp near Beach No. 11:

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Finally, first sighting this year of Ruby-crowned Kinglet, by Pine Tree Beach:

Lots more bird photos coming up from this past weekend at Presque Isle State Park, starting with these from Saturday:

Sometimes it all comes together, even at a long distance, like this amazing Northern Flicker (yellow shaft) along the Sidewalk Trail:

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It’s the first warbler of spring “that isn’t a Yellow-rumped Warbler along the Gull Point Trail because those were around all winter.” Of course, still Yellow-rumped Warbler, 2x sighted along the Sidewalk Trail:

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Two of Brown Creeper:

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Wrapping it up with lovely Golden-crowned Kinglet:

(Kinglet above seemed to be engaging in some sort of ‘tree creeping’ foraging behavior, flitting from branch to branch then along the tree trunk.)

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Coming up soon, more weekend! Plus special highlights featuring great shots of Horned Grebe, American Coot, and more sunny Mallards! #more_bird

After the eclipse, checking to make sure the sun’s still there. From yesterday @ 600mm w/ solar filter, lots of sunspot activity:

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One of BirdingPI.com’s favourite woodpeckers, great to see Yellow-bellied Sapsucker back in town. (Typically here only in relatively narrow windows in spring and fall.) These shots from Presque Isle State Park:

Back to Presque Isle State Park, where the AT&T mobile base stations are gone, along with decent cell coverage; after The Big Event, things no worse for wear. Bird-wise, spring’s in full swing despite unsettled weather (e.g., rain Friday, nearby thunderstorms Sunday morning): big uptick in ‘interior’ bird activity, e.g., Kinglet, Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Common Grackle, Eastern Towhee, and so on. These shots Saturday morning at head of Presque Isle Bay + Leo’s Landing. First up, a Swallow trifecta on the back bay, starting with beautiful and brown Northern Rough-winged Swallow:

Swallow trio over Presque Isle Bay:

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Seeing a lot more female Red-winged Blackbird activity:

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Trail conditions as of Sunday: after the rain last week, heavy localized flooding – B Trail: flooded; “Inner” Gull Point Trail: flooded; Rest of Gull Point Trail: Ok; A Trail: Ok; Long Pond Trail, west end: flooded; Pine Tree Trail: Ok; Fox Trail: localized wet and muddy.

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Coming up soon: woodpeckers and lots of them! Plus an amazing Sunday at Gull Point!