Great ‘under the radar’ birding in the Jamestown/ Williamsburg, VA area = the 100% free Jamestown-Scotland Ferry. Drive onboard (in nice weather) for cormorants, gulls, terns, and beautiful views of the James River. Depending on waiting time to board, maybe a half-hour commitment each direction.
Great spot to see Laughing Gull:
First winter/juvenile Laughing Gull in flight/landing:
Very exciting – Season 3, ‘Volume 2’ of ‘The Dowitcher!’ All shots July 2023 @ Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park.
Beautiful Dowitcher (adult breeding plumage) @ foraging/feeding behavior:
Wrapping it up with a view on a different day of Semipalmated Plover (lower left) + Sanderling, on the north outer beach. Cropped view @ 560mm (?) from ‘stop sign’ at end of beach trail.
Currently enjoying Season 3 (Vol. 1) of ‘The Dowitcher’ at Presque Isle State Park. These recent shots all at Gull Point. Probably Long-billed Dowitcher. (Thoughtful bird ID analysis: “Those bills look pretty long…”)
Wrapping up this post with several shots of Yellowlegs wading x flight:
Coming up soon, Season 3 (Vol. 2)!
More great shots of juvenile/adult ‘begging/feeding’ behavior @ Eastern Kingbird. Complete with ‘exploding’ bugs! This is east of Budny Beach along the Gull Point Trail.
Thunderstorms forecast for Erie County Saturday, but mostly clear and moderate temps Sunday. Should be a nice day for birding Sunday at Presque Isle State Park!
Heavy thunderstorms this past Wednesday = tree damage at Presque Isle including human injury and eventual park closure. Based on a quick reconnoiter out to Budny Beach early this morning, things seem back to normal. Trail conditions: damp.
By the beach, a few ‘summer regulars:’
Have a nice weekend! #more_nature
[Editor’s Note: Recommend avoiding forested areas at Presque Isle during heavy wind situations – falling trees are a regular occurrence.]
Almost as exciting as the famous bigfoot film, it’s bonus video clips of five Great Egret at Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park.
Also, bonus Stilt Sandpiper at Gull Point. Note the heavy underside baring, yellow-green (but not bright yellow) legs, and long/slightly dropping bill (longer than Yellowlegs, shorter than Dowitcher).
More from Presque Isle State Park on Sunday, at Gull Point/trail.
eBird did not ‘believe’ there were five Great Egret at Gull Point on Sunday, but 100% true. See, e.g., all five egrets together:
No one disbelieves the hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants:
Only a quick stop at the observation platform (w/o a spotting scope), but still saw two Piping Plover chicks:
Several shots of three of the Great Egret as they moved further away from the observation platform due to human presence:
Beautiful American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) are starting to bloom on ‘turtle pond’ (pond/lagoon adjacent to the entrance of the roped-off observation platform corridor):
This was a tough one, but research indicates it’s a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper. (“Tough” = lack of spots.) Note the white underbelly, relatively plain/brown back, and partial spectacle. (Plus yellow-green legs which aren’t easy to see in this view. Also exhibited characteristic ‘bobbing’ behavior.)
More juvenile ‘begging’/feeding behavior, here with Red-winged Blackbird @ the grassy area at Thompson Circle, Presque Isle State Park.
Dateline: 23 July 2023
Yet another beautiful weekend in Erie County, PA: high temps around 27 deg C, mostly sunny; very humid with a slight breeze Saturday, warmer/dryer Sunday, moderate rain overnight into Monday.
Presque Isle State Park trail conditions remain good; typical ‘problem spots’ vary based on recent rain, e.g., Gull Point ‘inner old’ trail at one point flooded/impassable, later muddy/traversable.
Plenty of summer bird activity. With the recent/unusual shorebird activity, BirdingPI.com personnel dispatched to Gull Point multiple days. These shots from Sunday late morning:
Very excited about this BirdingPI.com “first time at Presque Isle” sighting of a beautiful male Indigo Bunting, along the Gull Point ‘outer old’ trail:
Very happy to finally see a Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) butterfly this season (see “ID Tip” below):
One of the sunflowers in the Helianthus genus, perhaps Stiff Sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus):
Great Egrets: reasonably common at Presque Isle generally, less so at Gull Point specifically. Total of five individuals in the pond/lagoon:
ID Tip: Viceroy butterfly has a cross-stripe (see red arrow) along the hindwing, which Monarch lacks; Viceroy forewing (green arrow) has different pattern vs. Monarch; Viceroy body lacks most of the Monarch’s white speckling.
Coming up soon: more Gull Point, more Gull Point Trail, more Great Egret, more Piping Plover! Also bonus Egret video #more_bird
Dateline: 22 July 2023
Exciting news at Presque Isle State Park this week: happy to report the successful hatching of four Piping Plover babies at Gull Point! Really amazing occurrence generally, plus bonus points for an actual sighting/photo or several.
These @ 800mm shots suffer from the distance + heat shimmer; still fun to see. All from Saturday morning @ observation platform, looking generally south and to the left (east) of the nesting enclosure. (See location note at bottom of post.)
Adult (far right) + chick 1 (middle) + chick 2 (far left):
Three chicks (far right, right middle, and far left):
Adult (far right) + 3 chicks (middle right, middle left, and far left):
Uncropped view @ 800mm (aspect ratio changed to 16×9):
Finally, all 4 chicks together! (Far right, right middle, left middle, and far left.)
Following two views are cropped from the same single photograph. First is Piping Plover chicks #1-3, the second #4 (to the left of the 3):
Also seen Saturday: Yellowlegs, Dowitcher, Sanderling, Spotted Sandpiper and other sandpiper, Bank Swallow and other swallows, Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gull and other gulls, Caspian Tern, Turkey Vulture, Song Sparrow, GBH, House Wren, Baltimore Oriole, American Robin, Gray Catbird!, Red-winged Blackbird, Green Heron, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, American Goldfinch, American Crow, rabbits having breakfast, etc. – report to follow. (Also lots of Killdeer. Can’t forget the Killdeer.)
Location note: from a different day, wide-angle iPhone shot of where the Plovers above were seen – nest enclosure to right of center, Plovers sighted approximately on the lagoon far shore at very center:
