At The Park (III)

This post brought to you by Kroger(R) Whole Kernel Sweet Golden Corn(R)Good for a grackle, good for you! (TM)

These shots from August at Christopher Columbus Park on the NW side of Tucson, AZ. First up, a spotlight on Great-tailed Grackle (f) x tinned corn:

Nutrition for a grackle
Very intriguing…
Must investigate!

[Editor’s note: the tin above = in situ/existing litter; “No grackles were harmed.” (TM)]


All these shots around dawn; park gates open @ 6AM.

Full moon moonset at sunrise (w/ cactus & clouds)

Christopher Columbus Park – an oasis in the scrub desert w/ grass, trees, picnic areas, artificial ponds, etc. Popular (apparently) for fishing & dog walking. Great for seeing grackle, heron, waterfowl, etc.

Duck feeding time, with Mallard, probably Mexican Duck or Mexican/Mallard hybrid, Great-tailed Grackle, various domestic escapees (e.g., Swan Goose to left of person in picture), + even a wild Snow Goose (white bird @ middle bottom left):

Bird feeding
Domestic dog (middle) w/ Eurasian Collared Dove (r)
Handout

Black-crowned Night Heron (profile)

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (bottom middle) + Snowy Egret (top left)(note the dark bill and yellow feet):

Profile in heron
Herons and Egrets

Next up, a medley of Black-crowned Night Heron (juvenile) + female Anna’s Hummingbird (maybe immature male):


Hopefully it’s clear – lots of Great-tailed Grackle at C.C. Park!

Male
Female
More male
Female (or immature) w/ snack
More snack

[Editor’s note: “snack” = shorthand for ‘exhibiting feeding behavior.’]


Vermillion Flycatcher (juvenile or female)

Here’s a nice series of lovely Lucy’s Warbler:

[Editor’s note: forthcoming new name = “Desert Gray Warbler”]


Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

Fun fact: “V. cardui is one of the most widespread of all butterflies, found on every continent except Antarctica and South America.

Vermilion Flycatcher j/f in flight
Vermillion Flycatcher (m)

Rule #2

BirdingPI.com Rule No. #2 of successful nature photography: check (and re-check) the camera settings. (Rule No. #1: remember the batteries and memory cards.) Here’s a “Horned Grebe in flight” shot @ 1/60 sec when it should have been 1/2500 second:

Blurry Grebe

OTOH, still possible to luck out with a few pretty cool “Grebe in motion” shots. (Rule No. #3: stay calm & keep shooting.)

Anecdotally at Presque Isle, grebes usually seen floating and not flying; these were startled by a passing boat in the channel between North & South Piers.


Bonus shots:

Gulls @ East Ave boat launch

Two of Red-breasted Merganser in flight on cloudy day:


Gulls taking flight at North Pier Light

Red-breasted Merganser landing at East Ave boat launch + gulls:


Finally, Common Loon usually seen individually or in pairs. Here’s a very interesting flotilla of 10+ congregated off the east end of South Pier:


[Editor’s note: ‘OTOH’ = on the other hand.]

Strange Birds

A mixed weekend at Presque Isle State Park: partially sunny & extremely mild Friday, windy/cloudy but very mild Saturday, & windy/cloudy + much colder Sunday. Some rain Saturday overnight and Sunday overnight.

Saturday – Pine Tree Beach view west towards Presque Isle Lighthouse

Lots of bird activity on the lake. Despite the mostly mediocre photography (poor lighting and/or long distance), here’s a “Top 4” of recent strange (as in uncommon) sightings. At #4, it’s recurring Long-tailed Duck off Pine Tree Beach and other ‘outer beach’ locations:

w/ Bufflehead (f) upper left

Pine Tree Beach view east towards Sunset Point

At #3, it’s White-winged Scoter off Sunset Point, flying westerly. Even long distance, still beautiful.

Re. ID, here’s an extreme crop; note the very dark colouration – black (male) on right and dark brown (female) on left, with distinctive white wing patches & white facial patches:


At #2, what’s probably Harlequin Duck (f), again off Sunset Point. Distinctive white dot behind the eye + white patch by the bill. Unusual for Presque Isle; these these were hanging around for a few days at least.

w/ Scaup (far left) and Red-breasted Merganser (right)

And finally at #1, highly unusual for December, amazing juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron @ South Pier. Only the second ever BirdingPI.com sighting of this species in Erie Co.!


Coming up soon, more juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, this time back in Arizona! Also, spotlight on canned corn!

#more_(king)bird

It’s more Tropical Kingbird at Sweetwater Wetlands (Tucson, AZ) back in August.

Tropical Kingbird

ID note relative to the more common Western Kingbird: similar looking, but Tropical Kingbird = yellow further up the chest (see above), + lacks white side tail feathers which would be seen in flight on a Western Kingbird.

Lacks white side tail feathers

Looks like dragonflies are a desired food source. (Plenty of “Eastern Kingbird vs. dragonfly” activity at Presque Isle State Park in the summer.)

Food tree

A successful catch, but perhaps stealing another bird’s food is easier:

Uh oh
‘Squawk’ I
More “squawking
“I want your tasty morsel.”
Too late – down the hatch
Thwarted

Another Kingbird view I
View II
Kingbird (with branch shadow on face)(III)

Coming up soon, Western Kingbird! Plus unusual/fun bird activity at Presque Isle State Park! Also grackles!

In The Gloom

View (from East Pier) of West Pier & fog

It may have been gloomy/rainy last weekend, but everything’s better with birds. These shots from Saturday and Sunday at Presque Isle State Park.

Northern Cardinal (m)
Horned Grebes I
Horned Grebes II
Gull portrait
Ring-billed Gull, detail
More Ring-billed Gull @ North Pier

Hard to tell from this lighting, but these are Redhead over Lake Erie (bottom flock) + mixed Mergansers (Common Merganser & probably Red-breasted Merganser) on top:


Two shots of the irascible Belted Kingfisher in flight over Presque Isle Bay:


Ring-billed Gulls on Presque Isle Bay:


Song Sparrow
Another Northern Cardinal (m)
Downy Woodpecker (m)
Gulls
Christmas ornament

[Editor’s note: characterizations of any birds as “irascible” constitute unnecessary anthropomorphism, with apologies. However, Belted Kingfisher are notoriously skittish + their harsh ‘chittering’ vocalizations may sound angry to human ears.]

Wet Conditions

“Celebrating” fall rain with recent rainy/wet shots from Presque Isle State Park.

Deer trio (Odocoileus virginianus) w/ wet vegetation

Following are a medley of Song Sparrow @ Leo’s Landing (“bird bath” photos = always fun) + other shots as labeled:

American Tree Sparrow w/ light rain
More American Tree Sparrow
ATS part III
Horned Grebe in heavy rain @ Thompson Bay
View of Lake Erie in rain/fog

Back @ PI

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

American Pixie Gull in flight
Gulls on South Pier
View into Presque Isle Bay from North Pier

More APGIF (American Pixie Gull In Flight):


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

Mallards over Long Pond
More Mallards in flight
Mallards + American Pekin (the white one) on Long Pond
View from Sunset Point towards Gull Point
Common Goldeneye off Sunset Point (f on left, m on right)
Pekin over Lake Erie I
Pekin over Lake Erie II
Red-breasted Merganser over Lake Erie I
More Merganser II
GBH @ Waterworks
Scaup @ Waterworks
Red-breasted Merganser
Horned Grebe x4
Grebe detail
Grebe + Mergansers
APG + Merganser
American Pixie Gull @ East Ave boat launch

[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.]

Back @ Sweetwater

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.

Vermillion Flycatcher (m)

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


Probably juvenile Vermillion Flycatcher

More Verdin nestbuilding:


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


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).

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DSC_8392-2-d-Standard.jpg

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.]