When the action is slow……

: By Brian, on September 25th, 2009

This is supposed to be Fall Migration here at Presque Isle State Park. Yet the Warbler migration has been extremely slow, at least nothing like the Spring Migration. So what does someone do who is interested in birds and photography. Well, there’s always the Gulls…they always seem to be around. And while looking for them, you never know what else might pop up. So off I went for the day. The Erie Bay gave up this Ring Billed Gull in a very majestic pose. The Ring-Billed Gull is probably the most common gull in the area. This is a second year or a fully matured bird.

Ring-Billed Gull

Another common gull is the Herring Gull which is very similar to the Ring-Billed Gull but larger. The Herring Gull goes through four years of maturity rather than three as the Ring-Billed. The next two pictures are of a 1st year Herring Gull. They were taken at the East Pier while they were feeding.

1st year Herring Gull

The Bonaparte Gull is a petite , almost Ternlike gull. This picture was taken at Misery Bay off the Perry Monument.

Bonaparte Gull

While looking for other species of gulls at Thompson’s Bay, I came across this Caspian Tern dipping into and out of the water.

Caspian Tern

After all is said and done, I guess there was more action out here at the Park than I thought. It just takes a lot of patience(which I have very little of) and some experience as to where to look. One last bird to mention: At quite a distance I noticed what I thought was a duck at first, but as it came closer I recognized it as a Cormorant. The Cormorant is a very large, black, diving bird. I caught it taking off and the picture is not the sharpest, but here it is anyhow….enjoy.