This is Robert, a beautiful male Downy Woodpecker, named after his sire whose given name was also Robert. All recent photos @ Presque Isle State Park.

Still at Leo’s Landing at sunrise the other morning, with lots of gulls, etc.! #more_bird

And more “we heart fish part,” w/ Ring-billed Gulls:

Takeoff & escape:

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More beautiful Ring-billed Gull @ morning sunshine:

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Always fun to see gull diving behavior:

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Somehow the BirdingPI.com team made it out to Leo’s Landing @ sunrise the other weekend morning; “behold the power of black coffee.”

Next, part 1 of a lengthy saga of American Crow vs. Herring Gull, entitled something like “We heart fish part:”

Stay tuned for part 2, gull vs. gull!

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Second and final part of a morning at El Rio Preserve in Marana, AZ, from this past summer:

Three nice shots of Green Heron:

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Here’s a view of the El Rio Preserve dyke; the artificial pond/lake is fed w/ tertiary-treated wastewater and/or purchased agricultural water:

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Finally, a medley of Verdin (w/ food) + other birds as indicated:

Once again waiting on photo editing for recent Presque Isle shots, but there’s still a lot of Tucson-area content in the queue from this past July/August. If you recall the “Roadrunner caught a baby kangaroo rat” post, these are from that same morning @ El Rio Preserve in Marana, Arizona:

To celebrate the weekend, here’s a very nice medley of very cute juvenile Vermilion Flycatcher (male) x adult female Vermilion Flycatcher (in flight, carrying food):

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Coming up soon, checking in with the sun!

It’s the final leg of last Saturday’s expedition to Gull Point, featuring birds along the ‘inland’/’official’ trail between outer Gull Point and Budny Beach. Except where noted, lots of cute Golden-crowned Kinglet:

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Erie weather forecast: seasonally cool & sunny – looks like a spectacular weekend ahead for fall foliage/nature/birds. #more_bird

After multiple sightings of “no Egret, lots of Crows,” seems like the ‘resident’ Great Egret at Leo’s Landing was replaced by several+ American Crows. Or perhaps it’s just one bird, like a magical Egret that can turn into several crows. Or maybe several crows that can combine to form a Great Egret. Like Voltron.

[Editor’s note: with apologies, it appears the BirdingPI.com team is still suffering from post-Las Vegas second-hand smoke exposure. ‘Voltron’ indeed.]

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Anyway, a great/surprising at-dawn sighting at Leo’s Landing of an American Crow engaging in what appeared to be dive fishing, or some other sort of ‘water retrieval’ (see note below):

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Behavioral note: the crows at this date/location were jockeying with the local gulls for fish scraps – see photograph immediately above. The crow above may have been attempting to retrieve something in the water, e.g., dropped by another bird. More on this (gulls/crows) in an upcoming post!

It’s part 2 of Presque Isle State Park weekend content, w/ continuing shots of a loop hike to Gull Point Saturday late morning. As usual this time of year, lots of Double-crested Cormorants flying in/out:

“Bird of the weekend,” lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler everywhere there were trees & brush, e.g., here in the willows along the beach close to outer Gull Point:

Nice sequence of foraging behavior w/ insect caught in spider’s web:

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“Bird of the day,” always nice to see Eastern Meadowlark, here popping up briefly from the grass at outer Gull Point to reposition elsewhere in the grass:

Nice view from outer Gull Point, looking generally west, of a lagoon + tree line:

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Heading back on the ‘inland’/’official’ trail, w/ more Yellow-rumped Warbler & a nice sighting of Field Sparrow on the rope fence:

As expected, a beautiful fall weekend at Presque Isle State Park, w/ sunny skies & mild temps. Here along the Gull Point Trail Saturday, lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler & kinglet activity; outer Gull Point very quiet. Following shots mostly in the vicinity of Budny Beach, starting with a nice medley of White-breasted Nuthatch x Golden-crowned Kinglet:

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It’s a cute juvenile Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) hugging a tree @ east end of Budny Beach:

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It’s the final post of Las Vegas content from the other week, again at Clark Wetlands Park in Henderson, Nevada. Quite surprising/amazing was the water level in Las Vegas Wash, a veritable river complete with rapids, a shallow waterfall, etc.:

More great bird sightings, including this Orange-crowned Warbler @ foraging behavior:

Also great to see a beautiful Townsend’s Warbler, probably male:

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More views of Las Vegas Wash, mostly fed with tertiary wastewater that eventually flows into Lake Mead (+ Colorado River):

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Not something you see every day, American Coots navigating rapids upstream:

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