Back to recent photographs at Presque Isle State Park and nearby locations.

More APGIF (American Pixie Gull In Flight):

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Mixed gulls + 4 Tundra Swan (middle of shot in water) @ Leo’s Landing:

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[Editor’s guide to BirdingPI.com’s bad person/racist/etc. bird re-naming project – a work in progress:

Bonaparte’s Gull: American Pixie Gull or Black-headed American Pixie Gull

Say’s Phoebe: Cinnamon Phoebe

Cassin’s Kingbird: Gray-hooded Kingbird

Wilson’s Warbler: Yarmulke Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler: Orange Flame Warbler

National Audubon Society: National Birding & Bird Conservation Society (NBBCS)

John James Audubon generally: “He who must not be named.”

… more to follow.]

Cloudy/gloomy again today in Erie, Pennsylvania, colder, w/ a light-but-steady “wintery mix.” Time to return, even if only mentally, to warmer climes. Here, Sweetwater Wetlands on 31 July 2023 in Tucson, Arizona.

Here’s a lovely Verdin working on nestbuilding. (Due to the multiple layers of tree branches + twigs, very tough situation for camera auto-focusing.)

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More Verdin nestbuilding:

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Never could figure out specifically what bird this is. Some sort of flycatcher probably + feeding behavior on mesquite pods.

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More Sweetwater Wetlands coming up soon, but bringing this post to a close with a long series of Tropical Kingbird duo ‘food chase.’ This is a known/occasional location for this bird, + lack of white side tailfeathers (white side tailfeathers = more common Western Kingbird).

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Later this week or next, more Kingbird, including a great Arizona quartet of Tropical, Thick-billed, Western, and Gray-hooded*!

[Editor’s note: * formerly Cassin’s Kingbird.]

Quite a challenging weekend at Presque Isle State Park: Saturday, overcast, on-and-off light-to-moderate rain, & localized ground fog; Sunday, at first overcast but dry with a hint of sun, then thunderstorms by 2:30PM or so with on-and-off heavy rain into evening/overnight. Nevertheless, lots of gull, grebe, & waterfowl activity + the “fall usuals” (sparrows, Northern Cardinal, Golden-crowned Kinglet, etc.) Here’s a reasonably dramatic iPhone shot Sunday afternoon generally southwest towards downtown Erie with thunderstorms moving in (on right):

While waiting on weekend photo editing, these shots from earlier in the week and before:

Shot above mostly Herring Gull + a couple Great Black-backed Gulls, e.g., on left.

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Here’s several of Black-headed American Pixie Gull in flight by North Pier:

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More beautiful Horned Grebe:

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More American Pixie Gull in flight over Presque Isle Bay at dawn:

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Ah, nature. Never know what will show up next. These ‘fishy’ shots of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) – an introduced species – at Pymatuning Reservoir spillway. This is the ‘protected hatchery’ side of the lake; the carp congregate by the spillway for handouts. DCNR rules prohibit feeding birds – although that doesn’t stop anyone – but not fish.  

Happy things in bird/nature photography: (1) good lighting; and (2) reasonably close subjects. These recent shots are mostly both, from a nice day at East Ave boat launch, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Relatively speaking, lots of Horned Grebe activity this year on Lake Erie at Presque Isle State Park. Good places to see: East Ave, North/South Piers, Thompson Bay, & Presque Isle Bay generally.

[Editor’s note: in light of the forthcoming ‘bird re-naming’ project, BirdingPI.com is officially renaming the former “Bonaparte’s Gull” as ‘Black-headed American Pixie Gull’ (B-hAPG). Although no evidence Charles Lucien Bonaparte was a particularly bad person. ‘Pixie’ because it’s one of the smaller North American gulls and “little” is taken already.]

Please enjoy new ‘special report’ here: Multitudes.

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Switching back to the singular, it’s bonus content of a beautiful Red-breasted Merganser in flight/landing @ East Ave boat launch in Erie, Pennsylvania:

[Editor’s note: recommended soundtrack for this post: Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68.]

The variable weather continues apace in Erie County, Pennsylvania. After the snow Tuesday/Wednesday, it was sunny w/ a high temperature around 10 deg C (50 °F) on Thursday, and rainy on Friday; snow mostly melted. Time to revert back to sunny conditions, from last Saturday in western New York state, late afternoon at the lovely/bucolic Jamestown Audubon Community Nature Center. Lots of Mallard ducks and lots of Canada Geese! Plus a few surprises.

Series of shots featuring beautiful American Goldfinch + feeding behavior:

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Rather awful/long distance shots, but the ‘bird of the day’ = Northern Pintail (m):

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Finally, a very cool & furry sighting of amazing Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus):

Challenging bird shots both old and new from Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). First, a recent Cooper’s Hawk fighting the wind for landing in a tree; photographs taken at a very low angle against an overcast sky during the recent storm. Then an amazing Merlin (falcon) from back in the summer, from a very low angle.

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It was an abrupt turn to winter Monday night in Erie, Pennsylvania, with 15+ cm snow (6+ inches) by Tuesday morning, plus temps below freezing and ongoing light snow. From Sunday late morning at Presque Isle State Park, here’s a southeast view of Presque Isle Bay with the storm moving in from the southwest:

At the same day & location, it’s a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk (adjacent Presque Isle Bay by the park entrance) vs. lovely American Tree Sparrow at nearby Leo’s Landing. (The hawk’s the one in a tree 🙂

From the BirdingPI.com team in western New York state, it’s Bufflehead (ducks) on Lake Chautauqua. With some nice lighting effects from facing into the late fall sunshine (+ calm lake conditions):