In yesterday’s post, it was a week+ ago with unfrozen, choppy water on the entrance channel to Presque Isle Bay between North Pier and South Pier. As of a couple days ago, with the recent cold snap, current conditions are ‘mostly frozen.’ Here’s the view from South Pier looking towards Presque Isle Bay:
In the few spots with open, unfrozen water, it’s a bird activity magnet including Bald Eagle:
Telephoto view of Presque Isle Bay w/ unfrozen pool of water with several Scaup ducks:
Initially, the Bald Eagles (3-4) were cruising (flying around) the pool shown below, presumably looking for fish. More on this in an upcoming post.
These include American Coot, Redhead, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and Lesser Scaup:
Also Ring-necked Ducks and a female Canvasback or two:
Finally, looking east/northeast from the end of South Pier. The sort of open water is what’s left of the official shipping/boat channel to outer Lake Erie:
Great eagle shots!
Erie should put in a couple of heated water places so ducks have a place to land!
At the marina at Presque Isle State Park (aptly named the Presque Isle Marina), they keep water recirculating by the docks through some sort of underground pump system. (This probably has something to do with minimizing ice damage to the docks during the winter, but unsure.) As such, it’s usually a good spot for waterfowl, but haven’t been there in the last couple weeks to know if the recirculation system can keep up with such cold weather, e.g., about 0 deg F overnight last night in Erie Co. Will have to check it out this weekend.