There’s never too many Canada Geese.

Four portraits of a Canada Goose:

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Dateline: May 2022

Catching up on overflowing memory cards with some pleasant bird shots from the last month. All at Presque Isle State Park.

[Editor’s note: no more tick posts. Unless we find a new species of tick to share #science #nature.]

Well, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Wondering if the Lone Star Tick has made its way to Presque Isle? Wonder no longer! Collected recently from near the Pine Tree Trail.

Reiterating the previous PSA to be on the lookout.

Nikon Z5 with MC/50 2.8 lens. Shown larger than actual size.

[Editor’s note: “Collected” means the ticks find you.]

Dateline: 21-22 May 2022

Besides being the Gull Point trailhead, the Budny Beach (Beach No. 10) east parking lot is pretty good for birding – partial grass field, surrounded by trees and brush, swamp on one side and the beach on the other. Go early and/or avoid the summer rush days. (“Summer” at Presque Isle = any day over 80 deg F and sunny.)

Some recent shots, starting with lovely male and female American Goldfinch. Happy to finally get a couple ok pictures this season of this lovely bird.

Surprised to see Eastern Bluebird, on both Saturday and Sunday at this location:

Rather confused by this bird at first, which has been sighted several times now in the area. (This bird or others like it.) Based on the yellow-orange chest markings and yellow-orange side tail color, with a black/gray head, thinking this is an immature American Redstart:

No question on this one – not a great shot (due to the shade), but always happy to see the lovely Black-throated Blue Warbler:

Another non-mystery, a male Magnolia Warbler:

And back where it started, not enough lemon-yellow birds in the world:

Dateline: 29 May 2022

Humid, moderate-to-warm temps, and mostly sunny on Sunday. Beautiful day. Lots of folks out at Presque Isle State Park for bicycling, fishing, and driving around. A few folks on the beach and out to Gull Point, but very quiet on the trails overall.

Before Gull Point, some shots from a couple weeks ago of Caspian Tern, on the back bay. Fun pictures, but germane to today’s ‘mystery bird.’

Note the black legs in the picture above.

Again, note the black legs.

Now out to Gull Point. First, not a mystery, but a lovely Northern Mockingbird:

From the observation platform, a Semipalmated Plover off in the distance. Again, not a mystery.

Looking east, there’s some gulls, and what’s clearly a tern. Hmmm. That tern seems to have orange legs.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we? Though the miracle of color enhancement and extreme cropping, this bird clearly has orange legs:

This is significant because all Caspian Terns (see examples above) have black legs. Obviously, therefore, not a Caspian Tern, but a mystery tern!

What else is interesting about this bird? As shown in all these shots, note the black extends down the nape of its neck. Another ‘not Caspian Tern’ feature.

Time to consult Sibley Birds East. Wrong coloration for Black Tern. Wrong leg coloration for Caspian and Royal Tern. The two terns that overlap both in orange leg coloration and migration range are Common Tern and Forster’s Tern. Both (adult breeding) have black-tipped orange beaks, orange legs, and a black cap that extends down the nape.

However, per Sibley, Common Tern “tail usually shorter than wingtips,” whereas Forster’s Tern “tail often projects beyond wingtips.”

Ah ha! See this annotated version of the picture above:

So, a tern with an orange/yellow beak with black tip, orange legs, black down the nape of the neck, and an at-rest tail that projects beyond the wingtips! All this considered, calling it as a Forster’s Tern! Wow.

Another successful Gull Point mission!

Dateline: 28 May 2022

After that awful-but-necessary ‘tick warning’ post, time to get back to something more enjoyable. Saturday, 28 May 2022 – cloudy and rainy in the morning, cool and mostly sunny in the afternoon. Lovely day for a stroll along the Pine Tree Trail at Presque Isle State Park. (Pine Tree Trail was freshly mowed and in pristine condition.)

Transient bird population has plummeted precipitously. Along with the population of folks out birding. Fine on both fronts, but still plenty of birds and other nature to enjoy.

Spotted a few mammals, including this one here, which might be a feral cat:

A lovely Brown Thrasher:

Chipmunks are hard to get on film due to mostly sticking to the underbrush, so lucky to see a couple on this outing.

The big news, and a cause for celebration at BirdingPI.com (first time sighting ever) was a lovely female Canada Warbler! Wow.

These pictures are awful, but good enough for ID purposes. Note the gray head, yellow throat and underside, distinctive eye ring, and slight/abbreviated necklace.

Closing out this post with an ‘artsy’ shot of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female) with honeysuckle, off the Pine Tree Trail. More photographs of this lovely hummingbird to follow!

[Editor’s note: ‘feral cat’ – ha ha.]

Dateline: 28 May 2022

Reminding folks visiting Presque Isle State Park to be on the lookout for ticks. That is, ticks on you after walking through grass or brush. Anecdotally, Presque Isle doesn’t have as high a tick density as many other areas in the Northeast (hello, Connecticut). However, still relatively common especially in the grassy areas that border the beach, e.g., around and to the east of Presque Isle Lighthouse.

The Dog Tick above was collected recently in the field across the road from the west end of the Pine Tree Trail.

Nikon Z5 with MC/50 2.8 lens. Shown larger than actual size.

Dateline: 15 May 2022, etc.

The BirdingPI.com team’s been lucky enough to see male Common Yellowthroat out in the open a couple times recently.

First was the other Sunday, along the Gull Point outer old trail.

Frequently hard to see in the underbrush, it was a good chance to dash off some quick snapshots.

Later, on another day, spotted this lovely male at the edge of the swamp (technically Niagara Pond) off the Dead Pond Trail Extension:

Birds love bugs, and BirdingPI.com loves bugs, too. At least aesthetically-pleasing bugs. Next up, from birds to bugs!

[Editor’s note: The Dead Pond Trail Extension is the red portion encircled in the map excerpt here:

Dateline: 21 May 2022

A rainy Friday morning aside, great conditions now for hiking out to Gull Point. You’ve got the beach, the ‘inland’ old trail, the back bay, the mud flats/point/dunes, etc. Hoping the holiday weekend weather cooperates to dispatch another BirdingPI.com expedition or two.

In the meantime, some ‘there and back again’ pics from last weekend.

First up, a lovely Warbling Vireo. Always happy to see any vireo, this one being no exception.

On the lookout for House Wrens? If so, there’s a pair nested in this dead tree off the back bay beach where the outer old trail makes a relatively sharp turn from generally N/S to more SW/NE. Note the male and female (presumably) at the two corners of each shot.

Spotted Sandpiper coming in for a landing on the mud flat:

Lots of Barn Swallow and Tree Swallow activity out by the observation deck. Here, the former:

Back of a Yellow Warbler with wild grape vines:

Last up, more mysterious birds with yellow-orange/yellow chest patches and yellow/yellow-orange side tail feathers. Not to bury the lede, these are probably American Redstart. First a juvenile, and then three shots of what appear to be a female:

Next time, getting back to warblers! Lots of warblers.