Meanwhile, beautiful day Friday at Presque Isle – cold but sunny. No new warbler activity, but six “first time this spring” sightings: Chipping Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, and American Kestrel! Plus dragonflies and a Garter Snake conclave! Pics to follow ASAP.
Part 7 of ‘weekend update’ content at Presque Isle State Park, last Sunday at Thompson Bay – first Osprey of the spring!
Long distance shot – Osprey @ tree, head of Thompson Bay:
Backlit shots of ‘hovering’/hunting behavior (taken from edge of Thompson Bay):
Then backlit shots in flight:
A short time later, from near Thompson Circle (Dead Pond Trail east trailhead), probably heading off west into the woods for fish dinner:
Saw a couple Osprey-sized birds far off in the distance, but unsure if there was one Osprey in the area or more than one. (Plenty of distant Bald Eagle and Turkey Vulture activity as well.)
Buckle up? Heads up? Man up? What’s up? Well, since you asked, spring migration season’s ‘officially’ off and running in Erie with the first BirdingPI.com warbler sighting this year! Appropriately enough, a beautiful Yellow-rumped Warbler spotted Thursday in the vegetation adjacent East Ave beach:
Elsewhere, also seen today, Brown-headed Cowbird (no pics) & Green Heron!
Worst Green Heron picture ever
Erie weekend weather forecast: cool but dry. Happy birding!
[Editor’s note to staff: “Man up”?!? Before posting, please change to “Person up?” or “Woman/person/man up?” Per BirdingPI.com D&I Policy Section 2(b). Thanks.]
Back to last weekend with more content from Sunday at Presque Isle State Park. (Weather: sunny, cold.)
First up, back along the Pine Tree Trail, with cute Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger):
Snack timeGolden-crowned Kinglet
Obligatory but fun “camouflaged Brown Creeper” shot:
CamouflagedSide viewMore camouflageHoppin’/rear viewAnother side view
Despite the awful photographs, still fun to see the first Fox Sparrow of the season. Yellow lower beak suggests American Tree Sparrow, but heavily streaked breast (+ overall face colouration) = Fox Sparrow:
Fox Sparrow I
See also red tail:
Fox Sparrow II
Another great sighting, this time Winter Wren. Note overall brown colouration, short tail, slender beak, hint white eyebrow, etc.:
Winter WrenMore WrenWren III#more_wrenNorthern Cardinal (m)American Tree Sparrow
Another day with lovely Yellow-bellied Sapsucker:
Sapsucker ISapsucker II#more_sapsucker
Heading over to the Dead Pond Trail (east end) again, this time with the second butterfly of the season, the beautiful Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma):
Comma, full stopComma, side view
And, this is how you know:
Annotated
(Similar looking Question Mark butterfly would have question mark-appearing spots instead + different wing spot pattern.)
Tufted Titmouse#more_brown_creeper
Finally, didn’t get any good shots, but surprised to see Red-breasted Nuthatch this early:
First up, from last week at East Ave boat launch, happy to see Bonaparte’s Gulls back in the area:
Non-breeding plumage – black bill and black ‘smudge’ behind the ear.
Back to Presque Isle State Park along the Pine Tree Trail on Saturday:
West trailheadBlack-capped Chickadee
In the ‘random nature’ category, an interesting finding of a partial Woodchuck/Groundhog (Marmota monax) skull. Following shot lower mandible; two elongate teeth in the upper right are the lower incisors:
Upper mandible on left; curved teeth at bottom left are the upper incisors:
Happy to see Golden-crowned Kinglet back in Erie. These shots from Saturday afternoon along the Dead Pond Trail, under cloudy conditions:
Behavioral note: Kinglets move quickly, flitting from branch to branch. Sometimes, they’ll also flutter in place or hang upside down for foraging for insects/other food = the ‘upside down’ shots above.
It’s all about the weather. Clear, humid, relatively warm (20 deg C?; 65+ deg F) Saturday morning. Wind picked up + clouds/thunderstorms by 1:30PM, with a substantial temp drop down to approximately 7.2 deg C (45 deg F). Cold enough for mixed snow in the evening + below freezing Sunday morning. Sunday: clear, moderate wind, cold – maybe a high temp of 3.3 deg C (37-38 deg F).
Following video – thunderstorms north of Thompson Bay swamp/pond (looking towards Budny Beach); conditions deteriorated rapidly after this:
Until the weather turned, beautiful morning Saturday for birding. Tons of activity along the Pine Tree Trail, esp. “new spring arrivals.” See previous post for “bird of the weekend” (Merlin). Here, ‘runner up’ lovely Golden-crowned Kinglet. Lots of Kinglet activity, and lots of great Kinglet shots coming up later in the week. Preview:
‘Second runner up,’ the always amazing Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. Multiple individuals sighted along the Pine Tree Trail both Saturday and Sunday:
A dramatic and rather excellent weekend out at Presque Isle State Park. Early migratory activity picking up a bit, lots of “first spring/2023” – Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Osprey, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Belted Kingfisher, at least one each of wren and flycatcher (species TBD), etc.
Here, the BirdingPI.com “bird of the weekend,” the always amazing Merlin! [Squire’s Birding Guide to Pennsylvania, 2ed (1978): “Birding Rule 20(bis): Merlin trumps as ‘best bird’ of any outing.”] All shots off the Pine Tree Trail.
ID tip: tail tip appears square
Coming up soon, lots more weekend content, featuring weather/lightning video! Wow. Also birds. #more_bird
It’s the yearly PSA re. everyone’s least favorite cling-on, the tick. With spring, they’re back at Presque Isle State Park. (BirdingPI.com has catalogued at least four different species of tick at the park.) Be on the lookout, especially after passing through brush or long grass; back at home = clothes in the laundry + self-inspection.
Following recorded today after a pleasant time on the Pine Tree Trail. Not an April Fool’s joke.
Species: who cares? They’re all awful
More information here: ticklab.org (no affiliation).