After seemingly a long drought of Snowy Owl in Erie County, Pennsylvania, the BirdingPI.com staff was rather distraught (moderately bummed at least) to miss the individual reported in eBird as having been seen at Gull Point before Thanksgiving. But like Owen Wilson’s character in The Big Year (great, low-key movie), just keep persevering, and the perseverance eventually pays off around New Year’s. (Here, missed it by 19 days.)
As of this past Friday, there were multiple reports in eBird of another Snowy Owl sighted at Gull Point. As of Saturday, it was cold, overcast, and rainy. Despite the conditions, considering missing the earlier owl, it was time to draw straws for outside winter suffering:
Seemed like a bad idea, but even bad ideas pay off sometimes, with a BirdingPI.com ‘first ever’ of Snowy Owl at Gull Point, initially sighted at the NE point along the outer beach:
Fairly soon, it flew along the beach southwards:
To land further down the point:
After walking to the old observation platform, a slightly closer view:
After that, even with spirits buoyed by owls, it was time to head back to Budny Beach before hypothermia set in. Here’s a ‘fast/wet hike back bonus’ of Tundra Swans and Canada Geese @ outer Lake Erie:
Coming up soon, switching bird colours from white to blue!
Thank you , Team Leader, for braving the elements and capturing the wonderful pictures of the Snowy Owl! Caught in flight, too!
These team members were glad you didn’t die of frost bite. We were enjoying the hot chocolate at the Team HQ!
Hiking to outer Gull Point on a rainy day in the winter is not recommended, but better than the extreme cold arriving in Erie Co. tonight. (Also, it wasn’t too windy, so very little wind chill, + not too much ground snow.) Key to a successful rainy/snowy/cold outing = warm clothes & keep moving, + Nikon weatherproofing (they do a good job at weatherproofing their camera equipment, if nothing else), + a change of socks/shoes back at the BirdingPI.com van, + hot black coffee.
There are much better 3rd-party pictures of ‘Snowy Owl at Gull Point’ on eBird, from before Thanksgiving, but you can’t be at Gull Point all the time, i.e., win some, lose some.