Cinnamon Strip (?)

To the extent post-Vegas communications have been received from the BirdingPI.com photo editing team, it’s rather terse and incoherent. Perhaps too much diet Coke or second-hand smoke? Here, it was something about Cinnamon Teal on ‘The Strip,’ & a passing flatbed truck advertising “Ducks Direct to You! … Ducks That Want to Meet You.” Hopefully a joke, but these do appear to be the species in question…

Female (l), male (r)

Coming up soon, more content from Las Vegas?

Nice Plovers @ #11

Great sighting last Sunday afternoon of four juvenile/immature Black-bellied Plovers at Presque Isle State Park, specifically Beach No. 11. Nice to see these birds relatively close up vs. typical sightings at Gull Point.

Black-bellied Plover (juvenile/immature)
Killdeer in flight
Plovers (left) + gull
Misc. gulls

Mostly Portraiture

These recent shots from Presque Isle State Park showed up mysteriously overnight in the BirdingPI.com editing in-box, so looks like at least part of the editorial staff made it back from Las Vegas, Nevada. No word yet on forthcoming content, but ‘fingers crossed.’

Yellow-rumped Warbler (immature)
Dark-eyed Junco
Y-r Warbler II
Y-r Warbler III
Palm Warbler (female/immature)
Y-r Warbler IV
Y-r Warbler V
Y-r Warbler VI
More Palm Warbler
Y-r Warbler VII
Y-r Warbler VIII
Y-r Warbler IX
Yellow-rumped Warblers @ tree
Palm Warbler III
Y-r Warbler X

Outside BIRDS (V)

Even more Tucson-area birds!

House Finch I
Cooper’s Hawk in flight
Purple Shooting Star
White-winged Dove in flight
Finch II
European Starlings on grass
Hummingbird II
Western Kingbird
White-winged Doves migrating south
Finch III
More dove
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Vermilion Flycatcher (m)
Abert’s Towhee
Vermilion Flycatcher (f)
Male Vermilion Flycatcher II
Female Vermilion Flycatcher in flight
More Flycatcher
The final finch

Outside BIRDS (IV)

Still waiting on the BirdingPI.com photo editing team to return from Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the old, “doesn’t matter if it makes it back alive” camera kits looks missing, so perhaps high desert content is forthcoming. Meanwhile, the ongoing series of ‘Tucson suburban desert‘ birds continues with part 4:

Backlit Lesser Goldfinch
Gila Woodpecker in flight (GWIF)
House fish on cactus I

Following yellow-headed bird(s) are all Verdin:

GWIF II
GWIF III
GWIF IV
GWIF V
Finch on cactus II

Finally, a series of White-winged Dove landing on cactus:

Outside BIRDS (III)

An ‘extra-large’ post of more amazing birds from outside the BIRDS field station in the Tucson metro area. All hummingbirds are Purple Shooting Star a.k.a. Costa’s:

Mourning Dove
Dove II
Dove III
Dove IV
Cactus Wren on ground
Wren II
Wren III
Wren IV
Wren V
Wren VI
Wren VII
Wren portrait

Outside BIRDS (II)

Finally back to part II of July/August photographs taken outside the BirdingPI.com Regional Desert Southwest (BIRDS) field station, in Casas Adobes, AZ, with a medley of juvenile Verdin & other birds as noted:

Verdin (juvenile) @ foraging behavior
Outside the field station

Not sure how they’ll re-name Gambel’s Quail, but based on its primary range in the desert SW, we’re going with “Desert Quail” for now:

Juvenile Desert Quail
Desert Quail (adult)
Cactus Wren @ cactus
Adult quail II
Wren II
Adult quail III
Juvenile quail II
Juvenile quail, rear view

Coming up tomorrow, more BIRDS!

@ Tohono Chul II

BirdingPI.com will be featuring teed-up July/August Arizona content the rest of this week while the photo editing staff is out to Las Vegas, Nevada for Nikon’s “Advanced Strategies for Utilizing Artificial Intelligence-based Tools in Post-production Processing of Astronomical & Other Low-light Images” roundtable/seminar. Starting here with the second/final part of an excellent visit to Tohono Chul Park, w/ all hummingbirds!

Purple Shooting Start (m)

All birds (as above) w/ purple gorget (throat feathers) = male Purple Shooting Star a.k.a. Costa’s Hummingbird. The following (& similar shots below) is hard to ID, probably female Costa’s or Anna’s Hummingbird:

Following and similar shots are beautiful male Broad-billed Hummingbird:

“Shorebirds” II

Special second post today (happy Monday!) featuring another ‘cute shorebird’ – Turkey Vultures along the Gull Point beach trail, Saturday at Presque Isle State Park!

Overall, lots of Turkey Vulture activity @ Gull Point Saturday – at least 8-9 seen flying overheard at various points, plus numerous individuals on the outer Gull Point beaches + perched on the observation platforms.

A Turkey Vulture departs the old observation platform

Shorebirds

Other than late afternoon thunderstorms on Sunday, beautiful weather in Erie County, PA over the weekend. Bird activity at Presque Isle State Park was (anecdotally speaking) mild, other than an uptick in Dark-eyed Junco & the 2 kinglet species, plus copious gulls and Double-crested Cormorant. In trail news, the rope fence @ outer Gull Point has come down for the season, ahead of the Nov. 1 post-nesting season re-opening:

Gull Point sans rope fence

Looking back, been a very slow year for shorebird activity on the beaches facing outer Lake Erie, like from Budny Beach to Gull Point (the ‘outer beaches’). So, very nice Saturday to see, even if only briefly, two Semipalmated Plover along the Gull Point beach trail: