More overcast/gloomy photography from this past weekend at Presque Isle State Park. First up, a very nice shot of beautiful Palm Warbler in the woods adjacent Thompson Bay:

Mixed Mallard and Wood Ducks in the clearing off Marina Lake, sort of across from the access trail to Boat Landing #4 on Long Pond. This spot far enough away from the road to avoid spooking.

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For whatever reason, a bit more display this season of the eponymous crown of cute Ruby-crowned Kinglet, off Thompson Bay:

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More Palm Warbler:

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Duo Chipping Sparrow @ Budny Beach:

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Dateline: 26 April 2023

Another year come and gone, with today the 238th anniversary of the birth of famous ornithologist and generally bad human being John James Audubon. Time for pros/cons:

John James Audubon:

• Pros:
  • Important contributions to ornithology and popularizing the birds/nature of North America
  • Liked squirrels
• Cons:
  • Owned slaves and was anti-abolitionist
  • “Audubon developed his own methods for drawing birds. First, he killed them using fine shot. …” (Wikipedia.)

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Bird photography:

• Pros:
  • Fun and rewarding; easier than painting
  • Easier to ID birds than ‘real birding’
• Cons:
  • Expensive/heavy equipment
  • Giant cameras somewhat pretentious

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Swallow photography;

• Pros:
  • Beautiful birds
  • Fly around a lot in the same area
• Cons:
  • Small
  • Fly erratically

And with that out of the way, happy to see BirdingPI.com’s favorite swallow, the lovely Northern Rough-winged Swallow, back in Erie at Presque Isle State Park. (Also seen at this spot: Barn Swallow.) These shots adjacent the main park road by Niagara Pond, 23 April 2023.

[Nikon Z9 + Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 lens, cloudy conditions]

A reasonably epic post of more “guest roving correspondent” content at Milford Point, CT – the “Presque Isle of Connecticut.” This time, @ the beach!

View of boardwalk connecting main grounds of Audubon Center to beach:

Following shot – peninsula of Milford Pt in foreground, outer sand bar middle/left just below horizon, Stratford Point at horizon on right:

Beautiful flock of Brant, aka Brant Goose! #more_goose

Following shot – view west along the lagoon, outer sand bar on left, Milford Pt on right, flock of Brant just off center right:

Views of outer sand bar looking west:

As promised, the amazing and hard-to-see Piping Plover:

[Editor’s note: plenty more Piping Plover content to follow.]

Yay, shorebirds! (Sanderling: generally gray with shorter bill; Dunlin: generally brown with longer curved bill.)

Four of a beautiful Great Egret:

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After the beach:

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Stay tuned for reasonably nice Piping Plover photography!

Dateline: 21-24 April 2023

After a pleasant, sunny Friday, it was thunderstorms overnight, tapering off to drizzle by 12:30PM Saturday or so; cold, cloudy, windy. Sunday: colder, cloudy, windy. Monday morning: rain, snow.

Despite the awful Sat/Sun weather, a spectacular weekend for birding at Presque Isle State Park. Besides “the usuals,” first-this-year sightings of Yellow Warbler (!), Spotted Sandpiper, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, etc. Not to mention more warbler and thrush activity generally, and an amazing/crazy sighting of Tricolored Heron at Gull Point.

Trail conditions: wet. Gull Point ‘outer old trail’ flooded in spots but easily passable due to recent widening.

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Tons of content forthcoming. Getting started with the lovely Blue-gray Gnatcatcher @ woods adjacent Budny Beach east parking:

Please enjoy a special report of Common Loon.

Dateline: 23 April 2023

This BirdingPI.com PI Bird Alert^TM brought to you by the Hoisin Sauce Advisory Board – Everything Tastes Better With Hoisin Sauce! Almost.^TM

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In the realm of the ‘highly unlikely but nevertheless real,’ an amazing sighting today of a beautiful Tricolored Heron at Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park! Normally a coastal habitant, so wow. Substantially smaller than GBH, with white belly, white throat line, and blue head/neck colouration.

Just a few preliminary shots + video:

[Video resolution lowered due to site file size limitations.]

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GBH at that same location for comparison:

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More photography of this amazing bird coming up soon!

Milford Point, Milford, CT – the “Presque Isle of Connecticut,” if it had more trees and was lacking nearby beach homes. And was on a giant lake instead of the ocean. Anyway, on special assignment, more BirdingPI.com “guest roving correspondent” content of a recent visit to this amazing location.

Home of the Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point, sandwiched between Long Island Sound and the marsh/swamp of Charles E. Wheeler WMA, at the mouth of the Housatonic River. Following shots are on the inland/marsh side:

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Coming up soon, on the beach at Milford Pt!

Beautiful day Friday in Erie County, PA – mostly sunny and warm, turning cloudy with thunderstorms by evening. Forecast for the weekend: cooler, rain on Saturday, cloudy with slight chance of rain on Sunday. Nevertheless, three recent, confirmed sightings of Yellow-rumped Warbler and one of Palm Warbler at Presque Isle State Park – wishing everyone a great weekend outside! #more_nature

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Lots of concern over the Trillium, post-snow. Happy to report it survived ok and is doing fine!

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By special request from subscriber “Nicky T.,” more butterfly!

An excellent sighting of the tiny (dime-sized) but very beautiful Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta), at Presque Isle State Park. Hard to photograph, but two nice rear views here:

Crappy iPhone (on max zoom) shot, but still nice to see the lovely, if upside down, Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) on a flowering ornamental tree, in Lawrence Park Twp:

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#More_squirrel:

Ah, lovely woodpeckers! Some rather nice shots of recent sightings in Erie County, PA.

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Following are Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (m) in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) alternated with Downy Woodpecker (m) at Presque Isle State Park. Note the row of pecked holes for drawing sap:

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Special post of a recent BirdingPI.com “guest roving correspondent” visit to Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY! Beautiful building, interesting facilities/exhibits/art, + plenty of birds in the surrounding Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary.

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Out in the Sanctuary:

Recommend a visit when in the Ithaca, NY area!

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Please consider joining the Lab to support bird education, bird conservation, and great apps like eBird and Merlin. Includes Living Bird magazine, 10% gift shop discount, etc. (No affiliation with BirdingPI.com.)