Lots of beautiful Eastern Kingbird at Presque Isle State Park this time of year. These recent shots from the marsh/swamp between Long Pond and the main park road.
Catching a dragonfly/snack:
Lots of flying around and interaction, probably mating behavior:
More Kingbird:
The rare Yellow Kingbird. Or perhaps a female American Goldfinch:
Dateline: 3-4 June 2023
Safe to say that spring migration season’s mostly over. End of May, the casual BirdingPI.com “warbler tally” was a respectable/normal 18 species (not including vireos) seen at Presque Isle State Park:
The unusual stretch of dry/moderate weather continues. Per Erie News Now (June 5), “Erie has not seen ANY rain for 15 days straight now, …. If we make it through tomorrow night dry, this will become the longest rainless stretch in over 20 years for Erie.” (!)
Presque Isle State Park trail conditions generally good. Gull Point “inner old” trail muddy but passable. Despite the dry weather, problem spots still include: Long Pond west end, Duck Pond, B Trail, and Gull Point “middle old.”
As previously mentioned, main park road was closed Saturday morning (between Beach No. 8 and Beach No. 11) for a charity walk. Very peaceful with the reduced road noise. Also a great time to bird the ’causeway’ between Thompson Circle and Budny Beach:
The Canada Geese don’t care about traffic even under normal conditions, but easier to get ‘goose crossing’ shots like these:
With restricted vehicle access, BirdingPI.com’s Saturday contingent hiked from Beach No. 8 to Pine Tree Trail, to the end of the Gull Point ‘inner old’ trail (by the beach), to Thompson Circle, and then up the Dead Pond Trail to A Trail, which terminates back at Beach No. 8. (Side note: this is a classic PI loop hike.) Not a ton of bird activity, but still great to see things like these lovely Great Crested Flycatcher on the Dead Pond Trail:
Lots of flower/mammal/insect activity on Saturday! Posts forthcoming.
Well, if one baby Pileated Woodpecker‘s already an 11 on the cuteness dial, then two babies… yikes!
From a quick (5 minute) stop early last Monday morning near Beach No. 8, Presque Isle State Park:
Bonus bad video!
So many birds, so many bird photographs… Holiday Gull Point coverage continues with Episode IV!
Don’t see this every day – Dunlin x sleeping baby Canada Goose:
Several of beautiful Barn Swallow:
Nice shots of Spotted Sandpiper flying/hopping around Gull Point:
Lots of excitement at Presque Isle State Park on Saturday (3 June 2023), with the outer main park road being closed between Beach No. 9 and Beach No. 11 for the something-or-other ‘walk for charity of some sort.’ Hard to easily access certain trailheads, but nice/peaceful without the road noise. More on all that later. Meanwhile, getting caught up on May content, here, misc. nature from the Pine Tree Trail.
Finally, a trio of lovely female Yellow-rumped Warbler:
Dateline: 29 May 2023
Piping Plover and Killdeer covered in other posts, so this is Part III of holiday Gull Point coverage from Monday.
Just a beautiful morning out at the point – sunny/mild/balmy. Plenty of bird activity including all the regulars: Canada Goose, gulls, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Killdeer, Barn Swallow, etc.
So great to see the Dunlin (maybe 5 individuals) fairly up close:
From the earlier post:
Bonus picture – at a different location that same morning, decent shot of juvenile American Robin:
Part IV of Gull Point coverage coming soon!
Dateline: 29 May 2023
After the nest at Gull Point a couple weeks ago, it was great to see more Killdeer babies, this time on the back side of one of the outer beaches (east of Budny Beach) along the Gull Point Trail. Specifically, where the ‘outer old’ trail deviates from the beach, with a vantage of swamp/pond/beach/lake:
Bad photography conditions due to the distance + backlighting, but still fun to see:
Two chicks and two adults; one adult in the following shots and both in the final shot below:
Happy to have the insects back in action at Presque Isle State Park. Except mosquitos. And most flies. And ticks, which yes, are arachnids. Anyway, after a cold early spring and a slow start, it’s back to normal (at least anecdotally) with the warmer weather.
Took a while to ID the yellow/orange-flowering groundcover all over the sunny/open areas of Presque Isle State Park: invasive Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias). This is along the ‘outer old’ Gull Point Trail:
Three closeups of unknown ant species + Cypress Spurge, Dead Pond Trail:
Cypress Spurge from earlier in the spring:
Following might be Fragile Forktail damselfly (Ischnura posita):
Very cool sighting of Hobomok Skipper butterfly (Lon hobomok) along the Dead Pond Trail:
Fun shots of Common Eastern Bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) on the Long Pond Trail:
Finally, the beautiful Lupine (Lupinus perennis) is in bloom, and plenty of it in the ‘habitat restoration area’ on the south side of the main park road between Leslie Beach (by the lighthouse) and Beach No. 9 (Pine Tree):
Dateline: 28 May 2023
Spectacular holiday weekend at Presque Isle State Park – lovely weather and lots of nature activity. Plenty of content forthcoming: insects, turtles, Gull Point, more cute baby woodpeckers, more cute baby Killdeer, etc.
In the meantime, a quick/casual report from Dead Pond Trail (east end) on Sunday.
This looks like it might be some sort of domestic Clematis (flowering vine), but growing wild by the Dead Pond trailhead at Thompson Circle:
Great to see another (or the same?) Wilson’s Warbler:
More female Common Yellowthroat:
Nice to get a couple ok shots of male Blackpoll Warbler:
A couple fun/surrealist shots of “bird in motion,” both American Redstart (f). WARNING: may cause eye watering and headache.
Dateline: 29 May 2023
Spectacular Monday morning at Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park; perfect weather, no one around other than BirdingPI.com’s holiday volunteer contingent.
Been out to Gull Point too many times to count, but this is the first ever BirdingPI.com sighting of Piping Plover at this location!
Photography here was very long distance from the observation platform; aesthetically very unsatisfying, but still cool to see this bird. This shot @ 800mm, cropped to 16×9 but not ‘enlarged’/zoomed in:
Taking flight (just to the right of center):
Exploring the dunes; uncropped view (bird is just off center):
Cropped (bird approximately at center):
Bird is right of center:
Back to the beach:
