Taking a detour back to Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park back in late August, featuring fascinating foraging behavior w/ Common Merganser. No speed limit here! The M.O. here involved cruising around the shallow lagoon with head below water, followed by intense bursts of speed while slightly partially submerged, to chase (and catch) small […]
Before heading back to Arizona, might as well squeeze in another post of Erie County, PA content, featuring a great, if distant, sighting of American Golden-Plover at Gull Point, about a month ago. And here’s the ‘bird of the day,’ an American Golden-Plover coming in for a landing at the west sandbar/lagoon ingress-egress. ID hint: […]
At outer Gull Point Sunday afternoon, initially thought these were immature Palm Warblers, due to the streaked chests and characteristic bobbing movement. Upon further consideration, however, the ‘correct answer’ is American Pipit, at least five or six of them – a fairly uncommon sighting at Presque Isle – which exhibit that same tail bobbing movement. […]
Back in Erie County, Pennsylvania, the big news over the weekend was the first-ever reported sighting of Black-necked Stilt at Gull Point on Saturday. Sunday access was complicated by the Erie marathon, but the park re-opened after noon, making for good late-day lighting: Handily, a rare pair of American Avocet were also on site: