Before returning to the Great Backyard Bird Count (day 3) here in wintry Erie, Pennsylvania, thought it would be fun to highlight one of the more exotic species you’re nevertheless likely to see in the desert southwest. Namely, from our recent trip to the BiRDS field station in Tucson, Arizona, the lovely and amazing Pyrrhuloxia!

Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) are close relatives of Erie-favorite the Northern Cardinal. However, they’re almost exclusively located in the American desert southwest and Mexico.

First up ‘fun facts’ about Pyrrhuloxia – the name is hard to pronounce! Referring to these as that “fir-something” bird or that “p-something” bird is really a thing. Speaking from experience here. Before visiting Tucson, spend 5-10 minutes on the pneumonic pronunciation, which is something akin to “Peer – uh – LOCK – see – uh,” or even “Fear – uh – LOCK – see – uh.” Then, you’ll sound like a native. Although no one cares, because birders are generally very friendly and accommodating folks.

Second up ‘fun facts’ – the territories of Pyrrhuloxia and Northern Cardinal overlap in the desert southwest, meaning you are likely to see both, luck permitting. From a distance, the coloration of females can be similar, occasionally resulting in confusion and mis-identification. When all else fails, be sure to concentrate on beak shape, which is dispositive. With reference to the sketch below, Cardinals have triangular beaks with a more-or-less even line between upper and lower portions (upper image). (Whatever those portions are called. Mandibles maybe. Need to brush up on bird anatomy obviously – yikes.) Pyrrhuloxia have trapezoidal-shaped beaks with a jagged, parrot-like interface between the upper and lower portions (lower image):

Mature male Pyrrhuloxia have red around the beak and eyes. Mature females have a mostly grey face. Most of these pictures are of males (by coincidence), but the following may be a female:

Anyway, with that out of the way, not much going on in Millcreek Twp, PA (“Gateway to Presque Isle State”) today. But lots of seasonal excitement out at Presque Isle State Park itself, crappy weather notwithstanding! Stay tuned.

[Editor’s note: “seasonal excitement” meaning as much excitement as can be reasonably expected during the middle of winter in Erie, from a bird activity perspective.]

Dateline: 19 February 2022

Jinkies – weather-wise, it was brutal today in the greater Erie, Pennsylvania area. Highs around 18-20 deg F, partly cloudy, regular, heavy wind gusts with blowing snow. Not a good day for bird activity.

Confirmed sightings included Robin (count: 3), Red-bellied Woodpecker (count: 1), and Crows (count: 2).

Here’s hoping that Sunday is a bit nicer!

Meanwhile, we’re back in Erie, Pennsylvania for the Great Backyard Bird Count! //www.birdcount.org/ Wishing everyone a great weekend – hope you see (and count!) lots of great birds!

Following a ‘warm’ Wednesday and a rainy Thursday, it turned icy and snowy overnight with temps Friday in the lower 20’s (deg F). Regular, light snow throughout the day. Conditions were less than ideal for being outside. Nevertheless, counted ten species here in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle State Park”):

• Northern Cardinal (m & f)
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Robin
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Crow
• Canadian Goose – large formation flying far overhead, heading west
• Tufted Titmouse
• Mourning Dove
• House Sparrow

Not a bad showing of representative “all winter long” species!

Time to kick off the weekend with some mostly mediocre bird photos from today’s action!

The BirdingPI.com Regional Desert Southwest (BiRDS) field station outside Tucson, Arizona has been largely shuttered, unfortunately, since the start of the COVID pandemic. The discomfort of air travel notwithstanding, however, it was time to pay a brief visit for clearing out the packrat nests and other yearly maintenance. (Conditions in Tucson: sunny with highs in the mid-70s deg F; no snow.)

Due to budget constraints, the field station’s co-located with an HVAC scrap yard. Not much to look at, but all you need is a workspace for the ol’ laptop and a place to hang a hummingbird feeder or two. Most of the time it’s hitting the outdoors for scoping out what exotics the desert SW has to offer. Like jets and doves:

In all seriousness, Arizona is wonderful for birding. No better way to start off a few posts of interesting snapshots than with the state bird of Arizona, the Cactus Wren:

This is from an earlier trip, but easier to see when de-enmeshed from the cactus aspect:

Meanwhile, on a nearby sidewalk…

Stay tuned for more great birds! And jets!

Dateline: 3 February 2022

Snowy in Erie, Pennsylvania. Very little bird activity, or at least no one’s going outside to check. In light of the bad weather, it was time to catch up on some miscellaneous shots from the last couple months – late fall 2021 stretching into winter 2022 – just for fun.

First up, from a pleasant fall day in Millcreek Township (“Gateway to Presque Isle State Park”) – coincidental but fascinating raptor activity, all fairly localized both geographically and in terms of time-of-day:

Next up, extremely long shots of a mature Bald Eagle landing in a tree off Long Pond (Presque Isle State Park):

Also near Long Pond, a White-throated Sparrow:

On another day, on Lake Erie off Pine Tree Beach (or thereabouts), our Pekin friend from earlier with additional Mallard friends:

Later, in winter proper, in Millcreek Twp:

On another day, back at Presque Isle State Park, off Thompson Circle, three Northern Cardinal females and a Dark-eyed Junco were enjoying a patch of disturbed snow:

Also off Thompson Circle:

Dateline: 30 January 2022

This post is dedicated to Marlin Perkins (b. 1905 – d. 1986).

Disclaimer: if Marlin Perkins is ever revealed as having engaged in ‘dodgy’ behavior against any vulnerable populations, this dedication is hereby unequivocally retracted retroactively. Disclaimer 2: as of the date of this post, the management has absolutely no indication or sense that Marlin Perkins ever engaged in dodgy behavior against any vulnerable populations, and generally considers him, based on present evidence, an upstanding citizen and excellent individual. Disclaimer 3: any visual images of Marlin Perkins in this post are lawful under the “fair use” doctrine of US Copyright Law, as being (i) non-commercial, (ii) relating to social commentary and/or satire, and (ii) comprising a miniscule and minimized portion of the original video content in question.

Folks of a certain age (i.e., old folks) might remember the original television program Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom (1963-1988), co-hosted by naturalist Marlin Perkins. The takeaways from Wild Kingdom were that lots of crazy stuff happens in nature, that nature is rather great, and that Marlin Perkins was a badass. With all due respect.

Fast forward to Presque Isle State Park, circa 2022. Saturday (29 January 2022): clear and sunny in the afternoon, brutally cold all day; staff spent the day in a workshop with the photo editor going over old, un-reviewed files. (Post forthcoming.) Sunday (30 January 2022): not quite as cold; still pretty cold. Lake-effect clouds/snow; sun barely managed to poke through occasionally. Presque Isle road conditions: snowy/icy, but overall plowed and ok; localized drifts. Trail conditions: snow on top of a thick layer of uneven ice and snow, with localized, deep drifts. Rather awful both for photography and hiking. Ok for snow shoeing.

With road-side parking plowed at Presque Isle Light House, seemed like a good place to start the day. Moderate/early ice dunes along the lake, snow/ice along the beach proper. Light lake-effect snow.

Unlike Wild Kingdom, unlikely you’ll be beset upon by constrictors, alligators/crocodiles, sharks, leaches, etc. at Presque Isle State Park. Not impossible, but unlikely. But that’s not to say there isn’t occasional excitement. Take Sunday. The beach was rather cold and barren, like something out of the arctic. A lone Merganser flew by, looking confused. Perhaps a bad day for bird activity – considering the conditions and time of year, it wouldn’t be unexpected.

Getting the lay of the land, however, spotted a sizeable raft of ducks taking advantage of the unfrozen water close to shore. Mostly Common Goldeneye and Scaups. Things were looking up.

Suddenly, a juvenile Bald Eagle emerged from the misty clouds, far overhead:

Even more suddenly, talons extended, it headed downwards towards the lake surface:

[Editor’s note: not the world’s best bird picture, but pretty darned cool.]

After a successful catch, this Bald Eagle was briefly harassed by two gulls. Perhaps trying to initiate a fish fumble. No luck.

Admittedly, “Bald Eagle catches fish-followed-by-gull-harassment” would not make the cut for Wild Kingdom. But it’s in that same spirit: even on a ‘low expectations’ winter day, when birds are involved, you might just see something amazing.

Dateline: 22-23 January 2022

Sunday, snowed all day; not a good day for the outdoors. Saturday, cold (of course), but mostly sunny. All roads open at Presque Isle State Park and in good condition. Roadside parking limited due to the snow, as expected.

Spotted a few birds by the west Pine Tree Trail trailhead. Parking was manageable, seemed as good a bet as any for the day’s expedition.

Tough to get around with a 12″ snow pack, but nothing wrong with a bit of aimless, short-distance walkabout in the winter woods. Ended up a great day. Bonus points for decent lighting; more bonus points for more woodpeckers. Woodpeckers are great.

Bird tip: notice the Hairy Woodpecker has a longer beak, and little or no tuft at the base. Downy Woodpecker has a shorter beak, with a protruding tuft at the base. Pun intended.

Let’s close out the day with special thanks to the Pine Tree Trail (for existing), and some lovely shots of a lovely Red-bellied Woodpecker. Woodpeckers are great.

Dateline: 16 January 2022

Sunday the 16th, conditions were a “go” — moderately cold but sunny — for heading back out to Presque Isle State Park for more winter birding.

Surprisingly, recent storm damage (downed trees, etc.) had already been cleared on the Pine Tree Trail. Many thanks to the PA DCNR crew! Not a lot of activity, but sightings included White-breasted Nuthatch and Downy Woodpecker.

With the back bay (Thompson Bay and Presque Isle Bay) being mostly frozen over, Lake Erie (still mostly unfrozen) seemed like a better bet for bird activity. Plus, Gull Point!

Parked at Budny Beach and headed east along the beach. Frozen conditions (baby ice dunes) along the shore, but easily passable.

Can’t be a bad day if your Gull Point hike starts with Bald Eagles. This mature pair was initially circling (more or less) very high above the lake just to the north of Budny Beach. After a while, they flew east along the shore line towards Gull Point. (Stay tuned for a return appearance of the eagles once we get to Gull Point.)

Definitely ice/slush out on the lake, but it was open and unfrozen by the lake shore. A tremendous amount of duck activity from just past the end of Budny Beach all the way to Gull Point.

First up, Common Goldeneye:

That’s not a particularly noteworthy photo, but including it for ID purposes. Note the white back, black head, eye color, and, especially, the round, white cheek patch – all indicative of breeding male Common Goldeneye:

Meanwhile, the eagles were slowly flying east:

Further along the beach, some unobstructed long views of Gull Point, just to give a sense of scale/perspective:

Soon came across a perched immature Bald Eagle along the beach:

Which took flight almost immediately:

And then alighted in a distant tree. Note the second immature Bald Eagle in the tree to the right:

While peering at ducks, very surprised to suddenly hear a loud ‘whirring’ sound overhead, like a prop plane or noisy kite (the flying device, not the bird). Turns out it was the sound of an overhead flock of ducks decelerating for a water landing. Totally amazing – never experienced anything like it before, but heard it several times throughout the day. Really gives you a sense of the air-braking aerodynamics.

[This is the end of Duckmania!, but James Bond will return in Duckmania 2!]

Dateline: 21 January 2022

Major excitement in Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) on Friday, as two amazing Pileated Woodpeckers were spotted taking advantage of the sunny, albeit cold, weather. Concurrently, lots of other winter bird activity – confirmed sightings of Crow, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco, Robin, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal (m & f), even a few mystery birds.

Reasonably good photography conditions. Most pictures Nikon D850 with Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 lens.

Now, let us enjoy a Pileated Woodpecker:

More Pileated Woodpecker:

Dateline: 14-17 January 2022

Leading up to the weekend, access to Presque Isle State Park remained limited, with the loop road closed for construction just past the Perry Monument area (heading counter-clockwise). Generally cold and overcast.

Quite surprised to see a lovely Belted Kingfisher out-and-about, taking advantage of a spot of open water on the Lagoon (aka Graveyard Pond) for a bit of fishing. All shots at a considerable distance from the Graveyard Pond Trail, but you get the idea.

Elsewhere, herons on ice:

Moving on to the weekend. Saturday. Saturday at Presque Isle State Park was an unmitigated birding disaster. It happens. First clue: high temperature of 15 deg F or thereabouts. Just not pleasant. Second clue: “trails in your mirror are less frozen than they appear.” (Reader advisory: despite appearances, the Marsh Trail is not frozen over. Reader advisory, part 2: damp socks in 15 deg F weather are not pleasant.) Third clue: snow-covered surfaces may obscure slippery surfaces.

Ah, yes, the “Ye ol’ Presque Isle slip-and-fall.” Fortunately, no injuries, other than the demise of a mid-level B&W UV filter and a Nikon lens hood. The takeaway: lens hood + protective filter = crumple zone.

Moving back to happier topics, Sunday dawned clear and very cold, but with a forecast of sunny skies and reasonable temps into the afternoon (ahead of the big storm) — time to break out the backup equipment (Nikon D7500, etc.) As it happens, in the category of “Presque Isle giveth and Presque Isle taketh away,” after a bad Saturday, Sunday, frankly, was rather amazing. Stay tuned for a detailed report in the next post! (Preview: Ducks. Lots of ducks. Plus lots of other Birds. Plus Gull Point. Wow!)