Beautiful weekend at Presque Isle State Park. Saturday, light wind, sunny, warm (high temps of around 20 deg C?); Sunday, light wind, sunny, slightly cooler but still very pleasant. Beautiful fall colour. Lake level surprising low; all BirdingPI.com teams report trails in good/dry condition.
Foliage, Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”)
Birds: lots of birds. Lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler (flocks of them), Dark-eyed Junco; Golden-crowned Kinglet, European Starling, sparrows, gulls, nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, and Double-crested Cormorant. Very little goose or duck activity.
Following shots mostly from Long Pond, boat landing #4, on Saturday:
European StarlingI’m a starStar flightA gullGolden-crowned Kinglet
Belted Kingfisher:
Landing ILanding II
More lovely Golden-crowned Kinglet:
On the branchOff the branch
Tomorrow, nuthatch and chickadee along the Dead Pond Trail!
Beautiful day yesterday (Saturday, 22 October 2022) at Presque Isle State Park; looks like another beautiful day today. The BirdingPI.com team is getting geared up for heading back out (Gull Point perhaps?), so only time for a quick post of cute Semipalmated Plover from the Gull Pointbeach trail the other weekend. More plover! More bird!
As previously reported, beautiful day last Sunday at Presque Isle State Park. A special photo report from BirdingPI.com’s team stationed around the Marsh Trail/Ridge Trail/Dead Pond Trail junction. Part II to follow next week.
Marsh Trail
Marsh Trail = good, open spot for sometimes seeing fly-by birds. Here, lovely Red-tailed Hawk:
Hawk flight IFlight IIBlue Jay with acorn
Plenty of Yellow-rumped Warbler, kinglet, woodpecker, and sparrow activity. Here, the former:
Back to yellow rumpWood Duck flight/backlit
Stars of the Marsh Trail, Chipping Sparrow and amazing White-crowned Sparrow:
Chip off the old block
White-crowned Sparrow in the shade:
And in the sunlight:
Another Yellow-rumped Warbler:
Branch geometry
Downy Woodpecker (m) in the shrubbery:
Mood lighting
Cute White-throated Sparrow:
More sparrow!
On the Dead Pond Trail, a slightly blurry shot of Brown Creeper; interesting for showing wing coloration/pattern:
Creepin’ fasterFox Squirrel wishes you adieu until next time
Dateline: 15 October 2022, Presque Isle State Park
Yellow-rumped Warbler (f)
Partially cloudy, windy, and cool on Saturday. Amazing number of Yellow-rumped Warbler passing through. Also Kinglet. Despite the wind, loads of bird activity generally. Here, all shots on or near the Pine Tree Trail.
Dark-eyed JuncoLone leaf
Two shots of cute Golden-crowned Kinglet:
On a branch IBranch IIMore Yellow-rumped Warbler
Several more Kinglet:
FramedView to skyRuby-crowned (?)
More Warbler!
PerspectiveTakeoff
Several shots of what appear to be Magnolia Warbler (female or immature):
View IView II
Note the gray-ish neck band and hints of chest streaking in this shot:
Friday, 21 October 2022: looks like windy but sunny weather. Forecast for the weekend is clear and mild. “Fingers crossed” for great birding/nature weather – BirdingPI.com teams are on call and ready to deploy!
After several days of clouds and cold/frozen rain in Erie, PA, time to revisit a nicer, sunnier day from last week. Several shots of Red-bellied Woodpecker + one of American Robin + general foliage, all Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”).
Stuck in the greater Atlanta, GA area with nothing but an iPhone, a monocular, and a MARTA pass? No excuse – it’s still birding “go time!” An epic special report from BirdngPI.com’s roving correspondent.
GA Audubon & Blue Heron Nature Preserve
Tucked away amid the swank neighborhoods of Buckhead, GA is the lovely Blue Heron Nature Preserve – stream, wetland, mixed deciduous/tall-pine forest, well-maintained trails. Lots of Brown Thrasher activity. Bird of the outing: Carolina Wren; unfortunately no photos (see commentary below).
A map to nature funNancy Creek
iPhone + manual focus monocular = bad bird photography –> hard to gauge sharp (or any) focus, hard to focus quickly, hard to get a bird in the field of view. But probably better than an iPhone by itself. Let us explain:
Circular image format: uncropped/zoomed out. Normal/rectangular image format: iPhone zoomed in. (All handheld shots; images not cropped in post-processing.) Landscape photos: iPhone w/o monocular.
Brown ThrasherBest shot – clearly identifiable as a birdTypical trailWetlands
If you thought focusing on hummingbirds was hard before. Yikes.
Dark blob just off center = hummingbird?Ruby-throated Hummingbird (rear view)Gray Catbird!Not even bad equipment can stop the Gray Catbird!Perhaps some sort of woodland mammal
Just one of many interesting Presque Isle birds this past weekend: a very cute Pied-billed Grebe (immature/non-breeding) on Long Pond. Bonus points for relatively close range @ boat landing #3. (Seemed confused enough by human presence to stick around for a couple minutes before departure via submersion.)
Grebe profileGrebe perspectiveGrebe detailMore Grebe!Goin’ underSubmersibleThompson Bay
Now over to Thompson Bay on Sunday, with four Pied-billed Grebe:
Dateline: 15 October 2022, Presque Isle State Park
Pekin on Long Pond
Absolutely beautiful day Sunday at Presque Isle – light wind, mild temps, sunny. Ton of bird activity, especially Yellow-rumped Warbler and Kinglet. Content from multiple BirdingPI.com team excursions to follow this week. In the meantime, our lovely American Pekin friend on Long Pond on Saturday – first time seeing it fly. #proof_of_flight
Pekin with Mallard
More in-flight pics:
And, back for a landing:
Duck angelFall color, Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”)
Dateline: 15 October 2022, Presque Isle State Park
Merlin
Saturday: unsettled weather – windy, cloudy in the morning (localized light rain), sunny in the afternoon. Despite the wind, loads of cool bird activity.
After a leisurely survey of the Pine Tree Trail, quick stop at Pine Tree Meadows. Lo-and-behold, a gorgeous Merlin perched on a dead pine tree = birding gold! Totally amazing #nature
Following shots are blurry, but still good for feather coloration in flight:
In quick trail news, the lake level’s back up and the newly reopened/widened Gull Point inner old trail = back in flood mode:
Stay tuned this week for a lot more from Presque Isle, plus a special field report from down south. Way down south. More bird!
