Wishing a happy Veterans Day to folks in the US – a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who served!

Rain moving into Erie today, potentially snow (!) on Sunday. Fingers crossed for some dry weather at some point over the weekend #nature.

Dateline: 5-6 November 2022. Saturday, Pine Tree Trail – nothing says “slow birding day” like shots of wild fruit:

View of Gull Point observation platform from Thompson Bay:

And, moving on to Sunday, out to Gull Point. See previous posts on Dunlin, Snow Bunting, etc. Here, looking north from Budny Beach:

On the Gull Point outer old trail:

View of Thompson bay from Gull Point outer beach:

Two shots looking north/northwest towards the Gull Point observation platform, from the outer beach:

On the outer beach, after spotting the Dunlin, there were two of these:

Hard to ID. Dark legs, medium beak, well-delineated back feathers, some streaking/spotting on the chest, hints of spotting. Semipalmated Sandpiper? Baird’s Sandpiper? Of note, the wings appear to extend past the tail, which suggests the latter vs. the former.

Back on the outer old trail, lovely non-breeding American Goldfinch:

Tomorrow, more bird!

Before moving on to nature content, a rare ‘behind the scenes’ look at BirdingPI.com HQ, by popular request. Here, the website’s artistic ‘nerve center,’ the photo editor’s desk:

Very exciting.

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Moving on, shots from the beautiful woodlands around the Ridge Trail/Marsh Trail junction from the other weekend. First up, backlit Red-tailed Hawk:

Woodpecker tongue –> Nice!

Shot of the day:

What’s this? Female Common Grackle? Rusty Blackbird? You be the judge.

Two of Yellow-rumped Warbler:

Might be Hermit Thrush:

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Tomorrow, back to Gull Point with the weekend update!

Dateline: 6 November 2022

Back to the regular full moon on 8 November 2022, handheld @850mm (slightly cropped):

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From Sunday, with Gull Point open for the ‘off season,’ time for a BirdingPI.com survey @ outer beach.

Not a ton of bird activity; highlight was this amazingly cute trio of Dunlin.

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Tomorrow, back to the Ridge Trail!

Dateline: 8 November 2002′

Wishing everyone in the US a happy election day, and for those in relevant areas, a happy lunar eclipse! Here in Erie, partially thwarted (as usual) by morning lake-effect clouds + wind. (Tough doing long exposure shots in windy conditions.) But enough of an early window at 5:30AM for some slapdash photography:

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Moving on to more important matters, amazing to see Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur out at Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park, on Sunday, 6 November 2022. Many thanks to the kind passersby/birders who pointed them out.

Small birds at a distance against dry mudflat/vegetation = hard to spot:

Cloudy weather + long distance + small birds, etc. = mostly bad photos. Still, fun to see! (#more_bird!)

Following is front view of the Longspur (top bird). Note the fairly substantial black smudging below the throat (‘bib’) and on the top of the head – these patches would be more solid black in a breeding male:

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Tomorrow, a surprise visit from BirdingPI.com’s favorite shorebird!

Exciting happenings out at Gull Point yesterday – stay tuned for tomorrow’s post. (Spoiler alert: dodgy photography featuring Snow Bunting and guests!) In the meantime, more Common Raven content from Timber Camp Recreation Site north of Globe, AZ, from August. Amazing and beautiful birds! Hard to photograph/exposure.

Bonus video clip (background noise: nearby highway):

Elsewhen, a trio of Common Raven at San Pedro House:

Dateline: 5 November 2022

Very windy, mostly cloudy, + unusually warm Saturday at Presque Isle State Park. Seemed like a weather system coming in from the south. Rain overnight, patchy sun/windy as of Sunday morning.

All reported locations, relatively light bird activity – Blue Jay, kinglet, Canada Geese, woodpecker, GBH, and gulls.

Of note, these shots @ 500mm from Thompson Bay of a flock of lovely Bonaparte’s Gull, high in the sky battling the wind. (See bottom for ID info.)

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Switching over to wide angle, looking up/south on the back bay (Presque Isle Bay), by East Pier:

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Bonaparte’s Gull: bird on the bottom probably non-breeding adult. Note the white tail, black wing tips, dark bill, and dark spot to the rear of the eye. Bird on top, probably juvenile or first winter. Note the same dark bill and dark spot, + black tail tip and dark coloration along the forewings and wing backs (“M pattern“).

Little Gull is another possibility, but seems unlikely based on location.

Dateline: October 2022

Looks like fall migration’s mostly over for warblers, so time to celebrate the amazing number of Yellow-rumped Warbler that passed through Presque Isle State Park this season.

[Editor’s Note to staff: “Rump Shaker”?!? Please change before publication.]

Quick outing on a cloudy day from a few weeks ago, near Feather Observation Platform, Presque Isle State Park.

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Wishing everyone a nice weekend. Forecast for Erie: partly sunny, mild, windy. Should be ok for birds! #nature

All shots Canada Goose, 30 October 2022, Graveyard Pond (“Lagoon”) @ Presque Isle State Park.

[Editor’s Note: Best bird photography blog post title ever? The answer is ‘yes.’]

Dateline: 30 October 2022

Fairly slow weekend at Presque Isle State Park for bird activity. But no one expects the Spanish Inquisition (!) – in this case an amazing Rusty Blackbird (nonbreeding male) spotted along the Graveyard Pond Trail (“Lagoon” trail). Cross one off the BirdingPI.com “top 10 birds we want to see at Presque Isle” list! Bonus points for nice photographs.

Thought this was a Grackle at first, then a Starling. But note the eye color, rusty highlights, dark beak, white eyebrow, and dark under-eye. Beautiful bird!

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Bonus Graveyard Pond Trail content: