Destination Thursday: Birding Opportunities Abound on the Presque Isle Trails
The National Park Service designated the peninsula at Presque Isle State Park as a National Natural Landmark because of the unique nature of this Lake Erie sand-spit and the diverse habitats found within its limited confines. These include beach, dune, sand plain, forest, pond, marsh, lagoon, and swamp. This variety of ecological communities provides ample habitat for an equally wide variety of plants and animals, making Presque Isle one of Pennsylvania's birding "hot-spots."
A popular trail for both leisurely walking and birding is Sidewalk Trail (also known as Cement Trail).The trail is a 1.0-mile-long straight, narrow concrete walk, which crosses from Misery Bay to the Presque Isle Lighthouse. Much of the trail is in or alongside woodlands which characterize the central and more elevated parts of Presque Isle. The woods and adjacent thickets are especially interesting during migrations when many small birds populate the Isle, including song sparrow, wood pewee, rose breasted grosbeak, veery, gray catbird, white-throated sparrow, brown thrasher, common flicker, indigo bunting, roufus-sided towhee, scarlet tanager, red-eyed and warbling vireo, many species of warbler, and a variety of common species which travel through western Pennsylvania.
About one-third of the way, you will pass Ridge Pond, one of the interior wetlands of Presque Isle. As is the case with many of these small sheltered bodies of water, it is a good place to look for species of this wetland habitat. Among the birds to be found here are American and least bittern, wood duck, several species of rail, green-backed heron, great blue heron, swamp sparrow, tree swallow, red-headed woodpecker, and marsh wren. The pond is shallow and used by dabbling duck, which are those who feed by tipping up and putting their head below the water to get food from the shallow bottom. These include mallard, pintail, teal, and American widgeon.
Other
trails meet or cross the Sidewalk Trail. The park map is the most up-to-date
source of information for these and should be used when contemplating
side trips. Continuing northwest, the trail reaches the opposite side
of the peninsula at the Presque Isle Lighthouse across the perimeter pond.
Beyond is open sandy beach and Lake Erie (pictured today). For directions,
maps and to discover other recreational opportunities, visit the
Presque Isle site.
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