It was a beautiful fall weekend in Erie County, Pennsylvania featuring cool temps and sunny skies. On the Gull Point Trail at Presque Isle State Park, lots of seasonal bird activity including Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, kinglets, sparrows, ducks, gulls, and too many Yellow-rumped Warblers to count: [Disclaimer: the comic above includes irony. PSA: limited […]
Tag: Presque Isle State Park
October Pig Day
Dateline: 10 October 2026 Well, today is October Big Day! Time to get out and count/enjoy birds! (Weather in Erie County, Pennsylvania: “acceptable,” e.g., windy, cool, hazy sunshine, dry.) Today’s post features two species at Presque Isle State Park an attentive birder, or even an inattentive birder, is highly likely to see today, Golden-crowned Kinglet […]
PI Saturday PM
With the hiking trails back open at Presque Isle State Park, it was time again yesterday afternoon to check in with fall migration activity. Lots of European Starling, Gray Catbird!, White-throated Sparrow, American Robin, Blue Jay, etc.; just a few warblers/vireos, but they were present. Also tons of mosquitos – yuck. BirdingPI.com staff is heading […]
Happy Fall (2)
Part 2 of 2 of late summer insects at Presque Isle State Park, by Beach 11 last Saturday afternoon: Very interesting sighting of a female white morph (alba variant) Clouded Sulphur or Orange Sulphur butterfly; “alba” female morph = a sex-limited genetic variant found in about 1/3 of the 90 or so species in the […]
Happy Fall
Finally getting around to acknowledging the first week of autumn in Erie County, Pennsylvania, with lovely insects from this past Saturday at Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park. When all else fails, insects! Seasonally speaking, of course.
Merlin/Monarch
Ah, yes, one can only admire the patience and fortitude of those bird photographers who use ‘advanced,’ heavy equipment like tripods and gimbals. BirdingPI.com staff members, OTOH, are typically hiking/on foot, and thereby mostly go au naturel, meaning, in this context, handheld photography. Like these long-distance but extremely fascinating shots from yesterday off Beach 11 […]
“Palm Warblers”
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. […]