Reviewing the memory cards from this past Sunday at Presque Isle State Park revealed “way too many” shots of the Purple Sandpiper spotted bay-side Gull Point. But an unusual bird and non-flighty subject = photographically irresistible. Most of the following feature foraging behavior:
Back to Presque Isle State Park from this past Sunday afternoon, with ‘part 1’ of BirdingPI.com’s first expedition to Gull Point of the year. Facilitated by light ground snow and above-freezing temperatures.
Gull Point in January ‘goal #1:’ scout for overwintering Yellow-rumped Warblers. Gull Point in January ‘goal #2:’ Snow Buntings. More on the latter later. On the former, there might have been a ‘flash of something yellow’ in one of the large bayberry bush thickets along the inland trail (i.e., outer official trail), but no confirmed sightings. Plenty of Downy Woodpecker activity, however:
By ‘big bend,’ next up was the beach access @ outer Thompson Bay, following the unfrozen water along the beach edge in the hope of maybe seeing a duck or two. (Winter PI ‘birding hint:’ always check out open water.) Instead, a very surprising ‘special guest’ appearance by an amazing/unusual Purple Sandpiper, shown here in an iPhone photo as the ‘dark blob’ center middle by the snow:
Very fortunately, this Sandpiper was busy foraging in the shallow water, and seemed unconcerned w/ human/photographer presence. Please enjoy the followings shots w/ the better camera gear @ 600mm cropped:
Coming up soon, more Purple Sandpiper, + a nice time at outer Gull Point!
“Big” as in a big post, featuring everyone’s favourite waterfowl, ducks! This is part 2 of Weekend Update, from Sunday afternoon at Presque Isle State Park, moving on from the Bald Eagle, past the poorly parked ice fisherfolk at Horseshoe Bay, to North Pier!
Only problem w/ North Pier photography this time of year is shooting against the sun, but still some nice shots, even if oftentimes backlit, like these landing Lesser Scaups:
Birds frequently congregate against the bottom of the pilings @ North/South Pier, so one bird photography ‘trick’ is to carefully approach the edge (e.g., avoid falling in) for looking over the side = might get some relatively closeup shots, like this male Red-breasted Merganser:
These are landing Redheads w/ Lesser Scaup in the water:
Following are all Redheads in flight landing in mixed ducks:
Today it’s ‘weekend update‘ part 1. Conditions Saturday in Erie County, Pennsylvania: cold, snowy, gloomy; mostly hung out at the local McDonald’s drinking black coffee. Sunday, partially sunny and just-above-freezing “warm,” great day for hiking out to Gull Point for the first time this year. Much more on that later. But first, in chronological order @ Presque Isle State Park, a GBH ice fishing at the edge of Marina Lake:
Unfortunately, the GBH here seemed distracted by human presence (even if fairly distant), so it was soon time to leave this fine laddie or lassie in peace.
Nearby, perched in a tree by Long Pond, a beautiful mature Bald Eagle:
Hiked around past boat landing #4 to get slightly closer, w/ these very nice, if “challengingly lit,” photographs:
Trail & parking conditions at Presque Isle: generally good, frozen, w/ light ground snow cover; roads icy. Lots of traffic (for winter) w/ folks ice fishing esp. at Misery Bay and Horeshoe Bay.
Coming up soon, more from Sunday @ Presque Isle State Park, w/ ducks! Here’s a preview of female Red-breasted Merganser at North Pier:
More digital photographs from last week at Presque Isle State Park, featuring beautiful American Tree Sparrow @ Budny Beach, plus long-distance shots of Gull Point/outer Thompson Bay taken from Beach No. 11:
Species/sighting note: American Tree Sparrow breeds in far northern North America + overwinters, e.g., in places like Pennsylvania. Hence a common winter sighting in Erie Co.
This is the furthest/’pointy part’ of Gull Point, w/ Scaup (in flight), Tundra Swans (x5 – lower right middle and far right), & 1 Canada Goose (lower right, standing):
Coming up soon, a reasonably-exciting weekend update, w/ a return to Gull Point!
Marking the end of 2024-2025 primary duck hunting season at Presque Isle State Park yesterday with a ‘mega post’ of recent ducks @ outer Lake Erie, off Budny Beach/Sunset Point. Depending on weather conditions, an amazing amount of migratory activity w/ ducks heading both east and west (presumably south, too, at some point):
Nice sequence of beautiful Redhead ducks (male = red head):
Distant ducks, looking north, @ 600mm, mostly Red-breasted Mergansers, and lots of them!
Two shots of mixed ducks:
Annotated version of shot above: 1) female or immature Bufflehead; 2) female Common Goldeneye; 3) male Bufflehead; 4) male Common Goldeneye; rest: probably Lesser Scaup ducks.
Red-breasted Mergansers in flight:
In contrast, these are Common Mergansers:
These are typical views, looking north, @ 600mm of ducks (mostly Red-breasted Merganser) heading east along outer Lake Erie. Following shot, the larger bird in the center middle = Great Black-backed Gull:
Lesser Scaup in flight, fairly close to shore:
Finally, a distant but nice sequence of Common Goldeneye (male – right; female/immature: left) coming in for landing:
Looks like a cold but partially sunny day today in Erie County, PA – happy birding!
In today’s post, recent shots of a beautiful female Canvasback on a frozen Budny Beach @ Presque Isle State Park:
Time to depart over outer Lake Erie:
In Presque Isle State Park news, conditions continued to freeze up with the ongoing cold temps – interior ponds frozen, Presque Isle Bay mostly frozen, outer Lake Erie @ float ice w/ localized ‘freeze over’ (e.g., Thompson Bay), roads very icy; human ice fishing on Misery Bay in full swing. Weekend weather forecast for Erie County: cold w/ light, ongoing snow. Ahead of this afternoon’s cloud cover, here’s a shot of the 3/4 moon early this morning:
Continuing on with January coverage, it’s New Year’s Day 2025 @ Presque Isle Bay:
Geography reminder: Presque Isle (PI) Bay (the ‘back bay’) is defined between Presque Isle State Park and the Erie ‘mainland,’ with its entrance/egress to outer Lake Erie on its east end between North Pier and South Pier (see above).
Coming up soon, ducks, more ducks, and even more ducks! Lots of ducks.
[Editor’s note: “human ice fishing” = humans engaging in ice fishing. As opposed to birds engaging in ice fishing – which is a thing – or something ice fishing for humans, perhaps like polar bears (?).]
It’s tough to photograph Common Ravens in bad lighting – a longer exposure time (for getting detail on black feathers) = motion blur. Nevertheless, seems there’s been a lot more Raven activity in Erie County recently, e.g., starting here at Presque Isle State Park on New Year’s Day:
Unfortunately, no good pictures of “two Ravens together” to share, but anecdotally, almost always seen in pairs.
From a few weeks ago, over Lawrence Park Twp, one of another pair of Common Ravens, carrying something-or-other:
Finally, another “one of a pair” of Ravens recently spotted at East Ave Boat Launch:
Continuing w/ New Year’s Day 2025 content from Presque Isle State Park, with birds along the Old Gas Well Trail (extending from Waterworks to Marina Lake past the eponymous ‘old gas well’). As previously mentioned, weather was cold, rainy, & windy, but no ground snow.
Lots of American Tree Sparrow activity at this location (flock of 12+); nice to get a few shots of one ‘out in the open:’
Oil’s well that ends well!
In Presque Isle news, w/ the recent cold temps, as of yesterday the back bay (Presque Isle Bay) is mostly frozen over, same for outer Lake Erie around East Ave Boat Launch (see above) & similar locations. Great for “gulls on ice” + waterfowl (in areas of open water).
