Dateline: 19 March 2022

Last day of winter 2022. A rainy day here in Erie, Pennsylvania, but better that than snow. (Understatement.)

Time to greet spring and wave goodbye to peak waterfowl migration season. There’s Tundra Swans, there’s ice – it’s Swan Luge Part 2!

[Editor’s note: Isn’t “Swan-a-thon” bad enough?]

Following are mostly from 5-6 (Saturday and Sunday) March 2022, on Thompson Bay at Presque Isle State Park:

Saturday, there was some sort of cavalcade/convention happening on Gull Point. And a lovely day for it. Hope those folks on the observation platform were paying attention to the weight limit – #balcony collapse.

Switching over to Sunday, 6 March 2022, still on Thompson Bay, but mostly looking north. Another lovely day.

On another day, on Long Pond:

Finally, Tundra Swans and Ring-billed Gulls on Marina Lake:

Hopeful to see more Tundra Swans this season, but no better way to end the Swan-a-thon than with more bad Swan video!

[Editor’s note: To hear the Swans, turn the sound way up and listen past the gulls. Pretty cool.]

Nothing newsworthy to report on here, just some decent digital photographs of one of our favorite Erie regulars, the lovely Golden-Crowned Kinglet. Taken recently along the Long Pond Trail at Presque Isle State Park.

Dateline: 13 March 2022

Now back to our regularly-scheduled programming (ahem), with the BirdingPI.com ‘Weekend Update.’

Snow Friday into Saturday, colder, then very windy and very cold into Sunday. Partially clear Sunday morning, remaining cold, turning overcast with lake-effect snow later in the day. Brutally cold Sunday on the back bay (e.g., looking at gulls at West Pier) with the wind chill, elsewhere just cold. As we’ve said, in Erie, if you think the cold weather’s over, think again.

Big news: first sighting of Northern Shovelers at Presque Isle State Park this season (for BirdingPI.com at least). Following are on Long Pond:

The problem with Northern Shovelers at Presque isle is the distance, e.g., they’re usually seen on the opposite side of the pond, bay, or whatever. With that in mind, seems like a good time for some photos from the BirdingPI.com trip to BiRDS field station (Tucson, Arizona) back in February. https://birdingpi.com/greetings-from-the-field-station/

Sweetwater Wetlands is sandwiched between Interstate 10 and the Santa Cruz River (usually dry) on the northwest side of Tucson. https://www.tucsonaz.gov/water/sweetwater-wetlands. No birding trip to Tucson is complete without at least one visit to Sweetwater, preferably multiple visits. It’s a tertiary wastewater treatment facility, meaning reclaimed wastewater is pumped into a series of ponds and marshes for final treatment plus establishing natural habitat. See https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/constructed-wetlands. Anyway, great place for seeing any number of local birds (stay turned for future posts), but in particular migratory waterfowl, sometimes relatively close. Like these amazingly beautiful Northern Shovelers (females are mostly brown, males are white/russet/iridescent head):

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Back to Erie for a final bit of exciting news from Sunday. In addition to the Shovelers, spotted what appears to be two Pied-billed Grebes on Long Pond. First shot on the left foreground, with Pintails (on left and right) and what might be American Black Ducks in the middle:

And two in the center/center-left, with Ring-necked Ducks on the right:

In this crop, note the distinctive white bill with black band:

I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today?

Watch the following film reel very closely!

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Now you know the full extent of my powers!

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An expected – but still abrupt – change in weather in Erie, Pennsylvania, from “mostly spring-like” earlier in the week to plenty of cold and snow as of Saturday morning (12 March 2022). Current conditions: mostly cloudy, temperature of 22 deg F, not snowing currently but 5-6″ fresh snow on the ground from overnight. Not a good day for the outdoors, so time to catch up on some miscellaneous duck shots from the past couple weeks while waiting for Swan Luge Part 2.

First up, a species not covered much on BirdingPI.com previously, the lovely Gadwall. The following four views are from Long Pond at Presque Isle State Park:

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Time for a BirdingPI.com “Bird ID” moment, with reference to the following enlargement from the picture above of a male Gadwall. Note the distinctive white-above-black tail coverts (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_feather), dark bill, high forehead and generally square-ish head, patterned chest, and brown-with-white outline back feathers. Also patches of rufous on the wings as shown in the shots above.

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Next up, some decent shots of mostly Ring-necked Ducks in flight and takeoff, on Long Pond and Graveyard Pond (i.e., Lagoon boat launch):

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Still seeing Northern Pintails, like this on Long Pond; Pintails on the right, Mallards on the left:

Two shots from the back bay:

Now over to Lake Erie by Presque Isle Lighthouse, looking north:

And over to Thompson Bay for American Coots:

[Editor’s note: American Coots are not ducks.]

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Not enough ducks, you say? Don’t worry, plenty more where that came from!

How ’bout Buffleheads!

Buffleheads on right, Ring-necked Duck foreground left, Hooded Merganser background far left:

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Still not enough ducks? Tough crowd. Time to break out the big guns with some nice shots of Hooded Merganser:

Hooded Mergansers on Graveyard Pond – male on left with crest raised, male in middle with crest lowered, and female on right:

[Editor’s note: “…break out the big guns with some nice shots of Hooded Merganser…”???]

“Swan-athlon?” “Swan-alympics?” “Swan luge?” Ok, none of that makes sense. (Although, ‘Swan luge’ is pretty good…) What does make sense is how amazing Swans are, e.g., here in Erie, Pennsylvania recently, plenty of Tundra Swans!

There’s lots of amazing stuff in the “world of birds.” One example, Puffins off the coast of Scotland. Or Puffins off the coast of anywhere else for that matter. But what surely falls into that category (i.e., of amazing bird stuff) is a large flock of Tundra Swans seemingly materialize out of nowhere from the white, winter sky for a landing on Thompson Bay at Presque Isle State Park. Truly a sight to behold.

The content here doesn’t do it justice, but it’s a website and that’s what we do…

These are all on Thompson Bay, taken from the west-side beach by Access Trails #1 and 2 and therebetween.

Following two shots looking almost due north, towards Lake Erie (ice dunes in background right):

Remaining shots looking generally east towards the Gull Point area:

Again, doesn’t do it justice, but here’s a clipped shot of a flock of Tundra Swans coming in for a landing:

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Time for a BirdingPI.com “bird ID” moment. Tundra Swans and Trumpeter Swans look very similar, and the territory technically overlaps at Presque Isle State Park; although only slightly on the eastern side of the latter’s range.

Here’s a great summary of how to tell the difference: https://finwr.org/which-swan-is-which/.

In the picture below – an enlargement from these shots – the bird on the left has an almost straight line of black between its eyes. This is indicative of a Tundra Swan, whereas a Trumpeter Swan would have a notched/indented line of dark coloration instead. Also, on the bird on the right, there’s a yellow spot just to the left of the eye, and the eye is fairly distinct (i.e., mostly surrounded by white feathers). Both traits are characteristic of Tundra Swans.

In the following cropped view, the bird on the bottom has a partially pink-colored bill. This is indicative of a juvenile Tundra Swan.

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Back to more swans landing:

A couple groups of Tundra Swans landing was amazing enough. Almost as amazing was watching the newly-landed swans intermingle with those already on the ice. Perhaps it’s foolish to characterize it as a happy reunion, but that’s how it seemed – certainly, they were all very interested and animated for the get-together. Is there such a thing as swan joy? Maybe not, but hopefully so.

Finally for this installment, bad swan video:

Stay tuned for Swan-a-thon Part 2!

“And Janie and I went bird watching. We saw a Grackle!” Lisa Simpson, “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge.” The Simpsons, season 2, episode 9, Fox, 20 Dec. 1990.

Common Grackle, Millcreek Twp, 7 March 2022:

Bonus birds (not Grackles):

Dateline: 5-6 March 2022

An amazing weekend at Presque Isle State Park, with conditions changing rapidly and daily. Saturday started off cloudy with a few drops of rain, but turned partially sunny with temps in the high 30’s (deg F). Ice on Thompson Bay was starting to break up, but remained solid enough elsewhere on Presque Isle Bay for a final day of human ice fishing. That is, humans doing ice fishing. Stayed warm into the evening, with rain overnight, turning partially sunny Sunday with highs in the mid- to upper-60’s (deg F) and humid. Shirtsleeve weather in early March – lovely (!) Large portions of Thompson Bay unfrozen, diminishing ice elsewhere.

Huge amount of bird activity – ducks, swans, the previously reported Sandhill Crane, even some activity in the interior, e.g., sparrows and such. What better way to end a great weekend than with even more coverage of Erie’s most ubiquitous and irascible bird, the Canadian Goose!

[Editor’s note: picture above, Perry Monument looking southeast towards North Pier and South Pier, with the three smoke stacks of the Hammermill Paper Co. – now otherwise demolished – in the background. See https://www.sb3erie.com/history/. Picture below, Thompson Bay.]

Finally, a close-ish encounter Sunday by the swamp/pond off Thompson Circle:

[Editor’s note: Apologies for the anthropomorphism.]

This PI Bird Alert(TM) brought to you by Mountain Dew(R) Code Red(R) beverage. Nothing refreshes after a long day of birding than the cherry-burst flavor of Code Red(R)!

The team was bivouacked off Thompson Bay most of Saturday, enjoying the reasonably nice weather and the nearby Tundra Swans. Suddenly, what flies high overhead but a Sandhill Crane! Wow wow wow!!! So unusual didn’t even know what to think about it at first, e.g., “Mutant swan?”

We mostly associate Sandhill Cranes with places like Florida, so to see one at Presque Isle State Park in late winter was rather mind blowing.

Pictures follow:

It was flying east to west and soon out of sight over inland Presque Isle State Park. No other cranes sighted out in the bay or elsewhere.

[Editor’s note: Bird identification tip – Cranes, like Geese and Swans, fly with necks straight and outstretched. Herons (e.g., Great Blue Heron) fly with coiled or curved necks. See Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America: Second Edition. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.]

[Editor’s note: The Sibley guides are BirdingPI.com’s preferred field guides. Lots of excellent content and great for bird identification.

https://www.amazon.com/Sibley-Field-Guide-Eastern-America/dp/0307957918/. No affiliation with Amazon or David Allen Sibley.]

More ‘diversity and inclusiveness’ training today at BirdingPI.com (takeaway: all birds are beautiful and we love them all), but just enough time at lunch for a half-hour out at Presque Isle State Park, along the short trail by the Feather Observation Platform. And what a stroke of good timing – Northern Pintails both in the air and on the water!

Never seen Northern Pintails before at Presque Isle, although the timing and environment/location make sense since they’re early migrators. According to folks who know about such things. But regardless, an amazing and exciting sighting! (Just need like a 1200mm lens for a great close up…)

We’re off to a great start for migration season, and it isn’t even spring yet!

All pictures at a long distance with Nikon D850 and 500mm f5.6 PF lens.