A mixed weekend at Presque Isle State Park: partially sunny & extremely mild Friday, windy/cloudy but very mild Saturday, & windy/cloudy + much colder Sunday. Some rain Saturday overnight and Sunday overnight.
Lots of bird activity on the lake. Despite the mostly mediocre photography (poor lighting and/or long distance), here’s a “Top 4” of recent strange (as in uncommon) sightings. At #4, it’s recurring Long-tailed Duck off Pine Tree Beach and other ‘outer beach’ locations:
At #3, it’s White-winged Scoter off Sunset Point, flying westerly. Even long distance, still beautiful.
Re. ID, here’s an extreme crop; note the very dark colouration – black (male) on right and dark brown (female) on left, with distinctive white wing patches & white facial patches:
At #2, what’s probably Harlequin Duck (f), again off Sunset Point. Distinctive white dot behind the eye + white patch by the bill. Unusual for Presque Isle; these these were hanging around for a few days at least.
And finally at #1, highly unusual for December, amazing juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron @ South Pier. Only the second ever BirdingPI.com sighting of this species in Erie Co.!
Coming up soon, more juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, this time back in Arizona! Also, spotlight on canned corn!