Nothing more fun in the world of bird photography than “landing ducks,” even with uneven lighting/exposure due to cloudy conditions. This is a female Common Merganser recently seen at Presque Isle Marina, in chronological order:

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More ‘winter birds’ recently seen in Erie County, Pennsylvania, featuring White-breasted Nuthatch:

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Another cold morning in Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania (“Since 1800”), but should “warm up” later today and into the week, with highs above freezing forecast for tomorrow/Tuesday (!)

Despite the cold, there are still birds, as in these recent digital photographs taken in Erie County:

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Back to Presque Isle Marina a week ago, featuring (unless otherwise noted) beautiful Red-breasted Merganser taking advantage of the open water.

Male, female, & immature Red-breasted Merganser:

Male Common Goldeneye @ center/foreground:

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At last, cooperative American Crow subjects so we could finally use this title for a blog post. Only took 17.5 hours of waiting out in the cold.

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[Editor’s note: “17.5 hours” should be in quotes. Or perhaps change ‘hours’ to ‘minutes.’]

[BirdingPI.com ornithology specialist note: interesting to see American Crow foraging on Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). Usually associate such behavior with American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Eastern Bluebird, etc. It must happen regularly, but never noticed this behavior in American Crow before. Perhaps the long spell of cold weather has made other food sources scarcer?]

Lucky to see Merlin a couple times a year in Erie County, Pennsylvania, so this sighting a few days ago in Millcreek Twp (“Since 1800”) of this beautiful falcon species was a happy occasion. Of course, it’s weird to have a bird named after avian vocal recognition software, so hopefully as part of the AOS project to re-name honorific bird names, they’ll come up with something more appropriate like “Gandalf.”

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Looks like more extremely cold weather coming this weekend to Erie County, Pennsylvania. These shots from last Sunday morning at dawn at Presque Isle Marina, where the air temp was maybe around 4 deg F. On the other hand, little wind, and the sunshine made for good exposure on beautiful birds like this male Bufflehead (right):

And with the protracted cold weather, even these Canada Geese are finally heading south:

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Sadly, no recent sightings of Pierce Brosnan in Erie County, Pennsylvania, but even if so, not sure that would qualify as “Other animals” for eBird. Maybe. Anyway, today’s post features a duo of male Common Goldeneye in flight over South Pier, plus the obligatory seasonal “Lake Erie frozen over” shots from this past weekend. Please enjoy responsibly.

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While waiting on photo editing for more content from this past weekend at Presque Isle State Park, it’s back to South Pier the other day, with several Bald Eagles very interested in an open pool of water.

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With Presque Isle Bay, outer Lake Erie, and the interior ponds at Presque Isle State Park all frozen over, migrating waterfowl look to wherever there’s open water, the best spot being Presque Isle Marina where underground pumps keep the water recirculating in Marina Lake to avoid ice damage to dock infrastructure.

These shots from a very cold and mostly gloomy (ice fog/snow drizzle) Saturday, although with no one on staff thinking to take an ‘environmental context’ shot Saturday (ahem), this is from Sunday:

Current transients at the marina include Bufflehead (left/middle), Red-breasted Merganser (right of middle), and Lesser Scaup (right, bottom middle), plus Canada Geese, Common Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, etc. (shown below):

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