Welcome to Presque Isle State Park

First up, BirdingPI.com salutes the PA DCNR for the recent installation of a new entrance sign at Presque Isle State Park. This is a very exciting and invigorating ‘refresh’ to the entrance of such a great place!

Next up, the weather Monday/Tuesday in Erie County, PA was rather mediocre, transitioning to outright “rather awful:” cool/pleasant Monday, warm/pleasant Tuesday morning, followed by a cold, hard rain Tuesday afternoon and overnight. Current weather conditions this Wednesday morning: cold rain. Bleh. Despite the conditions, migration season keeps happening, with a burst of warbler activity early Tuesday morning into the early afternoon before the rain. Confirmed sightings included great species like American Redstart, Blue-winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and so on. While waiting on photo editing (where applicable), here’s more Palm Warbler at Leo’s Landing:

Finally, back with our intrepid world explorers as they slowly make their way back to the U.S. from the cartoon Falkland Islands. (FYI, the main air route is from Stanley, FK to Punta Arenas, Chile to Santiago, Chile.)

Weekend Update w/ N.Y.W.

Erie County, PA weather over the weekend included light snow, on/off clouds, wind, occasional sunshine, and generally cool temperatures. Migration activity at Presque Isle State Park and other locations seemed very muted – spent multiple hours at “usually good for warblers/vireos” locations and only saw a handful of warblers, e.g., a few Palm Warblers at Leo’s Landing, and in many places, zero. On the other hand, the Yellow Warblers are back, even if in relatively small numbers, and that’s all that matters. #yellow_warbler_is_the_best_warbler

These all of 2-3 different male Northern Yellow Warbler along the Long Pond Trail, including a rather nice series of foraging/flycatching in action:

Finally, picking up where we left off in the cartoon Falkland Islands…

Have a nice week!

Watching Water Drip…

Before Erie birding news/content, it’s the next three episodes of Jimmy McMillan, Bird Detective!

Chilly enough yesterday (Saturday) in Erie County, Pennsylvania for 15-20 minutes of noticeable snowfall starting around 8AM. Once the sun came out in the afternoon, bird activity at Presque Isle was “ok,” but (anecdotally) any warbler/vireo activity seemed very muted – over the course of 2 hours at several different locations, 3 Yellow Warblers were spotted and that was it.

Yellow Warbler (m)

Today’s post features Red-breasted Merganser off Leo’s Landing; quite active this spring foraging in the lagoon and along the beach:

Stay tuned for more Yellow Warbler content! And Jimmy McMillan, Bird Detective, returns next Sunday, when things heat up!

Happy 2 May

Weather at Presque Isle State Park this week: mostly cold and rainy. Bleh. Nevertheless, lots of great Palm Warbler activity (also Yellow and Yellow-rumped), plus the first BirdingPI.com sighting this year of Warbling Vireo. All the following at Leo’s Landing under rainy/dark conditions.

Warbling Vireo
Palm Warbler

Erie Co. weather forecast for the morning: partially cloudy, cold, transitioning to partially sunny and cold in the afternoon. #Happy_birding

Fun w/ GBH

Another cold, rainy day today in Erie County, Pennsylvania, so might as well get back to the Falkland Islands in cartoon form:

Moving on to bird photography, closing out April 2026 the best way possible, with beautiful Great Blue Heron(s) on different days at Leo’s Landing at Presque Isle State Park:

Have a nice day!

More @ FBP

Rain just started here in Erie County, Pennsylvania. With field operations on hold, it’s more nice birds from the other day at Fairview Business Park. But first, parts 2-3 of “The Penguin Saga!”

Eastern Meadowlark

Fairview Business Park is a great spot for Eastern Meadowlark, due to its mix of lawn grass at Flag Park and brushy, long grass fields in the various unused building plots around the area:

Female Red-winged Blackbird in flight
Canada Geese

First of year sighting of very cute Spotted Sandpiper:

Big bird/little bird
2x Spotted Sandpiper (left and right at edge of grass by water)

A Few Sunday Birds

From yesterday (Sunday) at Presque Isle State Park, under cold/foggy conditions transitioning to partial sunshine, along the Lond Pond Trail. As the famous bird photography maxim says, “If all else fails, there’s American Robin.” Like this sequence in chronological order, of fascinating “dig in the dirt to get a grub” foraging behaviour:

Next up, the first good sighting this year of Northern House Wren, near the west trailhead. (Multiple wrens sighted, including two chasing each other.)

Finally, the first BirdingPI.com sighting this year of a very uncooperative but still very pretty Nashville Warbler: