Dateline: 1-2 October 2022
Cool, mostly cloudy, and windy yesterday (Saturday, 8 October 2022); nice day for being outside, not so nice for bird photography. Still, plenty of bird/nature action out at Presque Isle State Park. Plus exciting trail news (really!) – report to follow tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy more birds from last weekend!
Following are all Yellow-rumped Warbler (female, Myrtle variant):
Quick post while the BirdingPI.com team gears up for heading out to Presque Isle State Park, despite unsettled weather this second Saturday in October.
More beautiful Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) on goldenrod, northeast of Beach No. 3.
Tomorrow: back to last weekend with more bird!
After nice weather earlier this week, looks like a rainy Friday in Erie. So, time for more photos of mostly Ring-billed Gull from this past, windy weekend!
All shots North Pier and/or Thompson Bay/Erie Harbor Entrance Channel, Presque Isle State Park.
Proboscis (n.) “… elongated … sucking organ of a butterfly...”
Lovely Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) on goldenrod, northeast of Beach No. 3, Presque Isle State Park.
Next time: more gulls? More butterflies?
After several weeks in the Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) woods with nothing but Campbell’s SpaghettiOs(R) pasta and iodine water purification tablets, the BirdingPI.com SWD (special woodpecker detail) finally captured an amazing Pileated Woodpecker! Always great to see, always hard to photograph – good shots at least.
This individual a bit more animated than usual due to other nearby birds – note the American Robin in lower right corner:
Shot of the day:
[Editor’s Note: “captured” as in captured photographically. No birds were physically interfered with.]
Dateline: 1-2 October 2022
Once again, time to celebrate the one bird constant at Presque Isle State Park: gulls. All year long, gulls!
First, the weekend update. Weather Friday: partly cloudy, windy, pleasant. Saturday: cloudy, very windy. Sunday: cloudy, extremely windy. Monday: sunny, lightly windy, nice day. High temps around 15-16 deg C.
Trail notes from the BirdingPI.com team:
Ring-billed Gulls (probably non-breeding adults):
Very cool size comparison shot with the trio on the right:
Here’s a crop. Herring Gull (mature) in the rear, Herring Gull (juvenile) on the left, and Ring-billed Gull on the right. The former looks like a giant!
More Ring-billed Gull on the beach and in the air:
Tomorrow: butterflies? More gulls? Interesting birds other than gulls? Stay tuned this week!
Dateline: 2 October 2022
Mostly cloudy and extremely windy again at Presque Isle State Park on Sunday. Subdued bird activity overall; Pine Tree Trail, however, reasonably active (sheltered) with Blue Jay, sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco, etc. Notable sightings (report to follow): Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and (first time this fall) Golden-crowned Kinglet.
In the meantime, relatively uncommon sighting of what’s probably juvenile Eastern Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). Some of these shots less than ideally sharp, but better than the minx. (Admittedly, this little guy was moving pretty fast.) On the Pine Tree Trail.
Cloudy and extremely windy Saturday (1 October 2022) at Presque Isle State Park; low bird activity. Still, great to see Mallard and a very cute American Pekin duck (could this be the individual seen in previous months/years?) on Long Pond.
More Pekin and video:
[Editor’s Note: A “ducks in the wind” pun – lovely.]
Dateline: 30 September 2022
Light clouds Friday, some sun; windy. Early evening trek out to Gull Point. Very subdued bird activity – report to follow with the weekend update.
In the meantime, a rare peek of the “behind the scenes” BirdingPI.com workflow. Here, an unusual sighting of mink along the Gull Point outer old trail, @ complete lack of autofocus engagement. Thanks for nothing, POS Nikon giant cameras.
Picture above after application of sharpening filter in Photoshop:
More blurry mink:
Here, an interesting raptor, species unknown (not Red-tailed Hawk):
On the other hand, always good results with Nikon in the most challenging photography situations – subjects nearby, well-lit, and more-or-less completely stationary:
Saturday, lightly cloudy, light wind – time to head back to Presque Isle State Park for more nature! [Edit: heavy wind at Presque Isle. Great for surfing, not so great for birding.]
Finally some sunny/clear weather in Erie as of Thursday afternoon. Friday – clear and sunny early, with increasing light clouds as of mid-morning. Fingers crossed for “no rain.”
While things dry out, it’s a ‘data dump’ of beautiful hummingbirds at feeders at San Pedro House outside Sierra Vista, AZ, from this past summer. Mostly female Broad-billed Hummingbird.
Hummingbirds at feeders is the photography equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. If the fish had wings and flew extremely quickly. Maybe.