Dateline: 9 April 2022
More unsettled weather over the weekend in the greater Erie area. Overcast and hints of light rain Saturday morning; cold and windy. Light snow and freezing rain Sunday morning; cold and windy. (Notice the multiple instances of “cold and windy.”) Still, the clouds broke long enough both Saturday and Sunday for “good enough” weather for outdoors activities including birding. And what a weekend it was – amazing bird activity at Presque Isle State Park, enough for at least two ‘Weekend Update’ posts and two special reports.
Anyway, the weather early Saturday AM was generally awful. Despite much grumbling, dispatched the team out to Presque Isle, taking (bad decision) the ‘not as good’ camera kit in case the rain picked up. (Nikon D7500 and Nikon 200-500mm f5.6 lens.)
After a brief stop at Long Pond (misc. ducks and a Great Egret off in the distance), next up was East Pier. Very windy and cold. Another Great Egret was foraging/fishing along the east shoreline. (See also above.)
Brief stop at the Perry Monument. More misc. ducks on the Back Bay. And lovely Ring-billed Gulls – great shot here of the ‘surf’ in action:
Coming up on Graveyard Pond (i.e., the Lagoon/boat launch/boat rentals), noticed another Great Egret. Then another. And another. At least thirteen Great Egrets up and down the pond, which is unprecedented (for BirdingPI.com) and rather amazing. No other humans around except a couple folks angrily launching a boat.
Following picture is overexposed, but you get the idea:
Already posted a couple nice shots in the Bird Alert. Others to follow in a special report, for a larger photo format. [Editor’s note: see https://birdingpi.com/great-egrets-on-graveyard-pond/]
One more for now for fun:
A few Hooded Mergansers (male on right, females on left) exited almost immediately:
Also lots of Gulls on Graveyard Pond, enjoying the cross-breeze and fish:
Eventually, time to head over to the Thompson Bay area. Following three shots are of Blue-winged Teal on the Thompson Circle swamp/pond (north). Note the distinctive blue-grey wing patches (hence “Blue-winged”):
Over on Thompson Bay proper, tons of Red-breasted Mergansers out on the water enjoying the (now) sunny weather. Most of the shots came out with lack of sharpness issues, perhaps due to heat shimmer. (Air temp on shore wasn’t at all warm, but the sun was out and there was definite air shimmer over the water.) Three shots that came out ok:
Back over on the swamp/pond, a pair of Northern Shovelers came in for a landing. Following isn’t the best in terms of exposure, but note the wing coloration:
Post-landing:
Coincidentally, also a pair of Blue-winged Teal (m & f):
Wrapping it up with more bad video:
That’s only part of Saturday! More to follow, including an amazing GBH cage match! (Really.)
[Editor’s note: Just to set expectations, there is no ‘cage.’]