Dateline: 9 July 2022

Absolutely beautiful day Saturday out at Presque Isle State Park. Also extremely windy; surf on Lake Erie was up to ocean level.

Seems like everyone was enjoying the wind. Or at least properly skilled/equipped humans and large-wingspan birds.

In particular, Turkey Vultures. Right away in the morning at Budny Beach, six vultures were swooping/gliding in the wind, for quite a long time. Don’t like to anthropomorphize, but they seemed to be having a great time:

Taking a break on Budny Beach:

More on this with the upcoming weekend update, plus exciting Presque Isle trail news! Stay tuned!

Recent early morning shots of Eastern Kingbird by one of the Long Pond fishing accesses, Presque Isle State Park:

Challenging photo conditions both on the lighting and fast movement side = fun lighting effects.

Video from the BirdingPI.com HQ Hawk Cam(TM), featuring Red-tailed Hawk! (Background noise due to nearby ventilation shaft – sorry.)

Wow!

For whatever reason, lots of Red-tailed Hawk activity in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) recently; at least three individuals regularly present near HQ. Recent stills:

Wishing everyone a nice upcoming weekend!

Dateline: 7 July 2022.

Either a late weekend update or an early weekend preview, take your pick. Great weather over the past holiday weekend; light rain Tuesday morning. Supposed to be dry into the upcoming weekend.

In Presque Isle trail news, the B-Trail, though still muddy, is now easily passable. Other than the copious biting flies.

View of sailboats from Gull Point, from spring:

Finally, a “shout out” to the latest Audubon photography award winners @ https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2022/the-2022-audubon-photography-awards-winners-and. Disturbing lack of Presque Isle content, but lots of great bird photography nevertheless.

Dateline: July 2022

Observing a family of Canada Geese at the Thompson Circle swamp/pond crossover when a female Wood Duck waddled out of the pond vegetation. (Pond’s relatively low due to dry conditions.)

They normally spook easily. This one seemed confused or at least unconcerned, perhaps because of the nearby Geese and/or because the BirdingPI.com team was already present when it came into view.

After some foraging, it moved back to the water for preening:

And then the moment of realization:

Detected human presence = time to leave.

Following shots are not super sharp (more lens/camera testing), but still pretty to see:

Dateline: 2 July 2022

Exciting news! BirdingPI.com has confirmed at least one nesting pair of Spotted Sandpiper in the northern dunes area of Presque Isle State Park (e.g., generally between Presque Isle Light House and Budny Beach), including sightings of two lovely, very active chicks.

These shots are less than ideally sharp; picked a bad day for testing new camera/lens configurations.

Complicated by the heavy cover of dune grass (see above).

Also difficult to get steady results when chasing sandpipers through the dunes.

Resident adult populations have been noticed in this area and at Gull Point. This is the first BirdingPI.com confirmation of successful breeding activity in either area.

Per the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s popular http://www.allaboutbirds.org website, “[Spotted Sandpiper] have intriguing social lives in which females take the lead and males raise the young.” Hence the lead photo: probably the male.

Following shots of Spotted Sandpiper adults from a different day, along/near the beach:

[Editor’s note: BirdingPI.com’s ‘prime directive’ is to minimize disruption or interference with bird behavior and habitat: “Take the shot and move on.” (With apologies to skittish herons and Wood Ducks…) “[C]hasing sandpipers through the dunes” appears intended as a ‘funny,’ but regardless, does not accurately reflect actual circumstances. Namely, soon after these sandpiper chicks were spotted during a routine survey, BirdingPI.com personnel left the area after quick shots for the record.]

Dateline: 4 July 2022

Surprise, surprise – not Gull Point, but rather Tom’s Point, out at lovely Lake Chautauqua! Photos from a special team expedition this past Saturday.

A beautiful spot right off the I86 W Lake Rd exit for Lakewood/Stow. Great short hike along a mowed trail combining forest, field edge, and lake views.

Insect with Common Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva):

Representative field view:

Fair amount of bird activity even mid-day. Here’s lovely American Goldfinch (m):

These are probably the Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album), but could be Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis):

Unable to get a shot of the front of the wings, and the distinctive marking (see bottom middle white spot in following shot) is unclear due to the angle:

Lots of House Wren activity:

More warbler activity along this trail than expected this time of year. First, an amazing Chestnut-sided Warbler:

Mandatory Yellow Warbler content:

Big news, and a BirdingPI.com first, a surprise sighting of Blue-winged Warbler! Note the dark eyeline, overall dark-ish wings with two wing bars, and white undertail coverts. (Per the Internet: “Undertail coverts are the feathers that smooth the transition between belly and tail.”) Should be noted that New York state is in the Blue-winged Warbler’s expected summer range.

Wishing everyone in the US a Happy Independence Day!

Dateline: 3 July 2022

Looks like a beautiful day in Erie – hope everyone can get outside to enjoy nature.

Exciting bird news to report from yesterday (more warblers!), but it has to wait for tomorrow’s rather epic post. In the meantime, some shots from winter/early spring of amazing Brown Creeper, out at Presque Isle State Park. (Would have called this post “Jeepers Creepers” but it’s been done before.)

Quick note on bird anatomy. Notice the foot structure as shown in the following shot. The three phalanges (fore toes) appear fairly typical, but the hallux or hind toe is relatively extremely elongate and with an elongate claw. Amazingly adapted for adeptly climbing trees, in line with this bird’s feeding behavior.

Dateline: 2 July 2022

After a relatively long (for Erie) dry spell, Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) finally had a nice, soaking rain yesterday evening + light thunderstorm. The grass and birds seem happy.

Meanwhile, from earlier in the week, Tree Swallows in a tree (appropriately enough) at the edge of the Thompson Circle swamp/pond. Let’s enjoy the pleasant photography: