Almost as exciting as spring migration, it’s turtle season at Presque Isle State Park! All these shots at Gull Point or along the Gull Point ‘outer old trail,’ on 29 May 2023.

First up, what looks like a beautiful Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) in the sand at Gull Point:

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Spiny Softshell Turtles (Apalone spinifera) + friend out-and-about at ‘turtle pond’ (lagoon at entrance of roped-off trail to observation platform):  

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Finally, what might be a Northern Map Turtle (Graptemys geographica) along the Gull Point Trail. Note the top shell “contour lines,” + serrated shell rear:

Still getting caught up with May content. #more_bird. These shots from along the Long Pond Trail, Pine Tree Trail, etc., Presque Isle State Park.

Nice bokeh on this shot of a lovely Common Yellowthroat (m):

More nice bokeh, this time Least Flycatcher:

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Finally (!), decently-lit shots of beautiful Red-eyed Vireo:

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Song Sparrow w/ snack:

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Northern Flicker @ nest hole:

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Even more lovely Common Yellowthroat (m):

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More misc. nature from last Saturday at Presque Isle State Park. All shots from along the Dead Pond Trail east of B Trail.

Can’t resist Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) x Lupine. These shots extra interesting for showing orange-coloured pollen sacs (a.k.a. pollen basket or corbicula):

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Possibly female or juvenile Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) dragonfly:

Lovely Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela) butterfly:

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Couple shots of Zabulon Skipper (Lon zabulon) butterfly:

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This is probably White Spring Moth (Lomographa vestaliata):

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Finally, a very interesting sighting of a well-camouflaged moth, probably Kent’s Geometer (Selenia kentaria):

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Coming up soon, more birds! More insects! #more_nature

Plenty of House Wren at Presque Isle State Park; these recent shots from different times along the Long Pond Trail:

Misc. nature from last Saturday morning at Presque Isle State Park. (Birds covered in previous post.)

Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) enjoying the traffic-free road. Or something.

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Took a long time to deploy these deer decoys on the Pine Tree Trail:

Invasive/beautiful Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) along the Gull Point Trail:

Probably Northern Blue Flag Iris (Iris veriscolor) near Thompson Circle:

Plenty of beautiful Lupine (Lupinus perennis) along the Dead Pond Trail, in the sandy/open area between B Trail and Thompson Circle. More Lupine shots in the next post.

Invasive Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum) (+ unknown insect) along the Dead Pond Trail:

And, invasive Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) also along the Dead Pond Trail:

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Next time, more Lupine, and lots of butterflies!

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:

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Lots of flying around and interaction, probably mating behavior:

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More Kingbird:

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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:

• Unexpected: Blue-winged Warbler, Hooded Warbler
• Might have seen but didn’t: Canada, Prothonotary, Blackburnian, most of the ‘gray headed’ warblers
• Would have liked more time with: Northern Parula
• ‘Warbler of the month:’ Common Yellowthroat

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:

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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:

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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:

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Nice shots of Spotted Sandpiper flying/hopping around Gull Point:

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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: