Such wet weather in Erie, the newts are out. Time for a Shakespearian curse to lift the rain? Maybe. “Eye of newt, and toe of frog, …”

Bonus gull/wind video:

Dateline: August 2022

Rained in Erie Sunday evening into Monday, with a half-hour break around 9:30am. After that, 31 solid hours of rain, at times torrential. Widespread localized flooding. Spotted a GBH in flight and a few soggy Wild Turkey.

While Erie dries out (hopefully), best to revisit sunnier climes, a la Tucson in August. … Here, some snapshots from a field trip with the 2022 SW Arizona Birding Festival – Santa Cruz Flats.

Santa Cruz flats: northwest of Tucson towards Phoenix, large open area of industrial agriculture (feed lots, alfalfa/hay, sod, potato, pecan, etc.) all fueled by canal-distributed CAP water.

Not a canal, rather the Santa Cruz River running from recent monsoon rains:

Mediocre pictures, but still cool to see Bell’s Vireo:

Power pole with Ladder-backed Woodpecker:

Common Ground Dove (lower left) and Mourning Dove (upper right):

Representative snapshot: canal (in foreground), a power substation, and agricultural equipment:

Bird of the day were two adult Crested Caracara (too briefly seen for pictures). Runner up, amazing Burrowing Owl:

Shaky Burrowing Owl video clips from the van:

Sod farming in the desert using Colorado River water. Makes total sense.

Dateline: 25 September 2022

Rainy Sunday morning in Erie, but windy and partially clear by mid-afternoon – dry enough for a quick survey of Gull Point (Presque Isle State Park). Clouded up again soon enough, but lovely while it lasted.

Fairly subdued bird activity; not unexpected due to the unsettled weather. Common Yellowthroat (f) along the Gull Point outer old trail:

Almost at the tree line, lots of agitated gulls:

A reason for agitation:

Roped-off corridor/observation platform:

Bad photo, but easy enough to see these as Green-winged Teal:

Goodness gracious, what is this??? White supercilium (‘eyebrow’), dark crown, brown/barred breast and underbelly, etc. = juvenile American Golden-Plover! First BirdingPI.com sighting this year.

Lovely Pectoral Sandpiper:

More Plover:

Here, a little easier to see the “gold” color on back feathers:

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Annotated for bird ID:

Dateline: 24-25 September 2022

Despite unsettled weather conditions, multiple BirdingPI.com team excursions to Presque Isle State Park over the weekend. Tomorrow: exciting/interesting plover news from Gull Point on Sunday. In the meantime, weather/trail update, + birds!

Erie weather: pleasant Friday; partially cloudy but overall pleasant Saturday; rain late Saturday into Sunday morning, heavy at times; partial clearing Sunday afternoon (enough for hiking out to Gull Point), very windy, followed by thunderstorms late evening and heavy rain into Monday morning.

Trail conditions wetter than recently due to rain, but overall good/passable:

• Pine Tree Trail: good
• A Trail: good
• Dead Pond Trail: wet in spots, overall ok
• Gull Point Trail: wet in spots, overall ok (outer old trail still ok as of Sunday)
• Sidewalk Trail: good

Recent bird sightings: Mourning Dove; Gray Catbird!; Canada Geese; gulls; Double-crested Cormorant; light duck activity; American Crow; Northern Flicker (many/active); Northern Cardinal; Blue Jay; Red-breasted Nuthatch; White-breasted Nuthatch; Green Heron; GBH; Red-winged Blackbird; Turkey Vulture; Bald Eagle; Wild Turkey (many/active); Black-crowned Chickadee; Great Egret; Dark-eyed Junco; sparrows; etc. Warbler activity: mostly Magnolia and Yellow-rumped.

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Tomorrow: Gull Point! And more bird!

Dateline: 23-24 September 2022

Lots of sparrows out at Presque Isle State Park currently! Recent photographs at Budny Beach and Pine Tree Trail, + bonus bad video content.

Following are House Sparrow:

More Chipping Sparrow:

Bad picture of lovely White-throated Sparrow:

Also seen (no pictures): Field Sparrow @ Pine Tree Meadows.

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Sunday weather, Erie, PA: thunderstorms early AM. Cloudy/overcast at daybreak. All BirdingPI.com team members have the day off due to ‘weather hold,’ but who knows? Perhaps some ‘dodgy weather conditions photography’ is in the offing.

Happy second full day of fall 2022! This time, back with appropriate fall content – fuzzy/grainy footage of Wild Turkey fleeing across someone’s driveway.

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Meanwhile, heading back towards the realm of legitimate bird photography, very recent shots of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet at Presque Isle State Park, Bundy Beach parking lot east. A bit shady, but lovely nevertheless.

Happy first full day of fall 2022! Nothing says ‘fall’ like Gull Point photos from late summer (?)

Unsettled weather this week in Erie – clouds, wind, rain, lower temps, etc. Forecast shows partly cloudy skies and seasonal temps for Saturday (no rain), thunderstorms later Sunday. Should be ok (periodically) for getting outside! #nature

These might be female or juvenile Magnolia Warbler (?):

Common Merganser entering the surf:

Common Merganser exiting the surf:

Killdeer on right, perhaps Sanderling on the left:

Erie Condor Turkey Vulture keeping an eye out from a Gull Point “do not enter the closed nesting area” warning sign:

A mashup of Bald Eagle BIF stills and cute Yellowlegs video? Makes total sense! BirdingPI.com: going where others fear to tread! (Editorially speaking.)

[Editor’s Note: “BIF” = bird in flight. Still (n.): a static image, as opposed to video/movie. Bald Eagle and Yellowlegs “mashup” – highly questionable.]

From Sunday, a beautiful Yellowlegs on Thompson Bay. Lesser, Greater? Let’s go with Awesome Yellowlegs! ❤❤❤

Presque Isle birding tip: if looking for shorebirds, be shore to check out Thompson Bay; edges = mud flat.

Many of these shots backlit against the sun = tough lighting conditions.

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Tomorrow, compelling Yellowlegs video! And lots of it! Also eagles! Wow. ❤

[Editor’s Note to management: “Yellowlegs Fever?” “Shore?” “Awesome Yellowlegs?” Heart emojis? Obviously, things here are out of control. Need to keep a tighter rein on quality control.]

Dateline: 18 September 2022

BirdingPI.com bird of the week: lovely American Pipit! Flock of 12+ out at the Gull Point mud flats on Sunday, mostly moving fast and keeping low to the shrubbery/grass – an exciting first sighting for BirdingPI.com at this location. Fortunately, one or two individuals were in the open long enough for photography.

Following shot out of focus, but included for showing the white side tail feathers:

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Next time: there might be Yellowlegs!