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.

Dateline: 1 March 2022

After weeks of fruitless tracking through the cold, snowy woodlands of southern Erie county, finally confirmed a positive sighting (with pictures) of Eastern Bluebirds in Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania. The first of the season, and a sure sign of impending spring!

Of note, this appears to be a male and female pair. Notice the brighter blue color of the male on the right (picture above), whereas the female has a greyer head color and some white on the throat.

What a weekend for birding and bird photography at Presque Isle State Park! So much content it couldn’t be contained in one, two, or even three posts! Wow.

After a sunny start, Sunday quickly turned cloudy, remaining mostly overcast the rest of the day. Moderate high temps (28-30 deg F), but windy. Not bad in sheltered locations, but the wind chill on the back bay: once again brutal.

Roads at Presque Isle State Park in pretty good shape. Main bicycle/walking trail also in pretty good shape (mostly ice-free).

First up, a stop at Long Pond. Plenty of duck and geese activity on the unfrozen west end.

Lots of honking and other goose shenanigans:

Admittedly, easily amused here at BirdingPI.com, but it was still pretty funny.

Next, back to the Perry Monument area. (Q. How do you know the weather conditions are bad at Perry Monument? A. When there’s no one else out mid-day on a weekend, except folks huddled in cars.) Lots of ducks on the water and lots of ducks in flight. Amazing day for duck activity! A few representative shots:

Before heading out for the day, it was time to enjoy the view from the car while waiting for extremities to regain feeling. What else comes floating into view but a gull-festooned piece of float ice, moving easterly at a brisk clip in the wind (right-to-left in the picture below). Facing the wind and thereby moving backwards, the gulls soon exited ‘stage left’ as the float ice moved further down the bay and behind a screen of trees. The picture below doesn’t do it justice (and not the right time/conditions for video), but still ‘lol’ (literally) funny.

So you’re out there taking pictures in the cold and wind as best possible, hoping for the best mostly. And then something like this comes along. Uh. Canadian Geese, obviously. Hijinks presumably. Boggles the birding mind.

[Editor’s note: edited for cropping and a slight bump in brightness only.]

Gulls are great. Beautiful birds, relatively common (depending on your location), and such a love for fish!

Here’s an amusing exchange from Saturday on Presque Isle Bay by the Perry Monument. First up, someone fumbled the ball:

Followed by an attempted recovery:

Followed by a conversion:

Running for the end zone:

Almost at the goal line:

Touch down!

Wings in “V” for ‘victory dance:’

[Editor’s note: apologies for the American football analogies.]

Dateline: 26 February 2022

Although still operating with a winter skeleton crew (conditions in the Oaxaca, Mexico area: high of low- to mid-80’s, lows around 50 (deg F), sunny), the weather Saturday in Erie, Pennsylvania dawned mostly sunny if quite cold. Meaning, high time to dispatch a survey crew up to Presque Isle State Park for assessing local conditions.

Even before the afternoon, periodic lake-effect clouds moved in with periodic, light- to moderate-snow; highly variable based on location, e.g., sunny at Presque Isle State Park but snowing in downtown Erie, as one could see across the back bay.

All hiking conditions at the park were rather awful – light snow on top of ice (from a spell of freezing rain the other night) on top of patchy, old ice/snow; localized flooding (e.g., east end of the Sidewalk Trail completely flooded where it crosses the pond/marsh)(see trail map at https://birdingpi.com/about-presque-isle/). Absolute air temp wasn’t bad (28-30 deg F), but when the wind picked up in places like on the beach or along the back bay, the wind chill was brutal. (Proposed new BirdingPI.com motto: “Suffering in the cold for birds so you don’t have to”?) Anyway, that’s why they make enclosed automobiles, winter clothes, and Thermos(R)-brand vacuum bottles for hot coffee. [Editor’s Note: no affiliation with Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation.]

First up, a cold, quick, icy stop at the beach to the east of Presque Isle Light House. Lake was mostly frozen over, but some patches of open water were seen far in the distance. No bird activity other than some distant, unidentifiable ducks/waterfowl. Same at the Budny Beach parking area.

Next up, another quick stop at Thompson Bay, at Access Trail #1. https://birdingpi.com/872-2/. The bay was mostly frozen over, except for where a group of mixed ducks, etc. were taking advantage of a patch of slushy water:

Mallard, American Widgeon, Bufflehead, Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Redhead, and, of note, Hooded Merganser and what appeared to be American Black Duck. The latter appearing rather dark from a distance and tending, from our experience, to prefer sitting on the ice:

Meanwhile, a Bald Eagle flew overhead, heading generally north from across the bay towards the south/southwest interior:

Next up, the Perry Monument area. Large flock of Wild Turkeys along the road by the Lagoon boat launch – no pictures due to road congestion.

A goodly portion of the back bay (Presque Isle Bay) remained unfrozen by the Perry Monument, so it was a hotbed of bird activity, just like last weekend. Mixed waterfowl and many, many seagulls. Of note, very exciting to see Swans, probably Tundra Swans, both a flock high in the air and a pair in the water. Let’s enjoy a few photographs:

[Editor’s Note: there are no birds in the picture above. In case you were wondering.]

You’d think that was enough for Saturday, but please, think again. Next up, Gull vs. Gull! Stay tuned! Wow.

Monday was the final day of the Great Backyard Bird Count “weekend.” The weather was wonderful – high around 50 (deg F) perhaps, mostly sunny, light breeze. Tons of birds out enjoying the weather. Tons of Robins out enjoying the partially snow-free lawns.

In addition to previously-sighted species, the first up ‘new hit’ was a White-breasted Nuthatch:

Bonus points for a nice sense of kineticism in that second shot!

Kineticism. (noun) Kinetic art. Energetic movement, particularly applied to any visual arts. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kineticism. (Disclaimer: BirdingPI.com is an occasional monetary sponsor of the Wikimedia Foundation.)

Next up, fighting House Finches! More kineticism!

What were presumably Downy or Hairy Woodpeckers were spotted earlier at a long distance. However, with the better weather, the former was confirmed by way of several nice shots:

Even more kineticism –>

The kineticism goes to 11! –>

Moving on, a Red-bellied Woodpecker had apparently procured a piece of dried corn, likely from a nearby bird feeder. It seemed like it was trying to stick the corn into a hole somewhere in the pictured vine, perhaps to encourage the growth of woodpecker yummies, e.g., insects.

Yes, we used the term “woodpecker yummies.” …

A Blue Jay, just for the record:

Long-distance shot of a Red-tailed Hawk, just for the record:

Couldn’t do the day justice without a few shots of the lovely Robin:

With that, an additional four species counted in Millcreek Twp!

• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Blue Jay
• House Finch
• Downy Woodpecker

A ‘shout out’ to multiple Red-winged Blackbirds spotted Tuesday morning! Almost made the list.

Final count:

• Millcreek Twp (excluding Presque Isle): 17
• Additional species seen only at Presque Isle State Park: 12
• GRAND TOTAL: 29! (Excluding Scaups and Blackbirds…)

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“Twos Day” (2/22/2022) was cloudy, windy, and rainy. Nevertheless, since we’re here, a couple fun bonus shots:

Dateline: 20 February 2022

Conditions in Erie, Pennsylvania Sunday were less than ideal, but far better than Saturday – very cold and windy in the morning, but sunny and relatively warm (highs in the 40’s deg F) in the afternoon. Very windy all day, however, depending on location.

First up – Millcreek Twp. New sightings included European Starling (multiple birds), a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (1 individual), and several Rock Pigeons (i.e., common Pigeons) down by the west-side Lowe’s. That brings the current Millcreek Twp. count to 13 species!

With the weather slightly cooperative, it was time to head up to Presque Isle State Park for an hour or two of quality time for GBBC weekend. The itinerary included a stop at Duck Pond, parking at Budny Beach for a hike out to Gull Point, and stopping at the Perry Monument area for duck activity on the back bay. Conditions: patchy standing water and/or ice on the roads; patchy snow and ice on the trails, highly localized in terms of the amount of snow/ice. Easy enough to get around generally.

Here are some very long shots of Duck Pond. Species identified: GBH; Ring-necked Duck; Redhead; Mallard; Bufflehead; and Scaup (of one sort or the other).

While parked at the side of the road by Duck Pond, suddenly a Bald Eagle flew overhead. (No one expects the Bald Eagle!) Yay!

Looks like this individual was transitioning from juvenile to adult plumage.

Someone decided it was a good idea to hike out to Gull Point, so off to Budny Beach. Trail conditions: a few icy patches (caution required), but generally good. Weather conditions: unseasonably warm but very windy; sunny. Lake Erie mostly unfrozen except for near the shore.

Spotted a Northern Cardinal at the Budny Beach parking area. Also a few ducks on the lake (see above), but otherwise minimal activity except for a few gulls and a surprising amount of Crow activity – at one point, 17 crows were spotted flying out to the ice and then back inland again. As seen in the following picture (bird on the right with fish), they may have been scavenging for fish:

Not a lot of activity a Gull Point, but a nice day for a hike!

The east end of the back bay (e.g., between North Pier and South Pier) remains unfrozen, so there was significant bird activity as seen from Perry Monument – GBH, ducks, and gulls. Conditions were extremely windy, however = hard to stand upright, let along keep the camera steady.

With that, time for the species tally:

• GBH
• Mallard
• Ring-necked Duck
• Common Merganser
• Northern Cardinal
• Crow
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Canvasback
• Common Goldeneye
• Redhead
• American Widgeon
• Bald Eagle
• Bufflehead
• Scaup (species?)

Excluding the Scaups, that’s a total of 14. Pretty good for mid-winter!

Next up, bringing it on home with GBBC Day 4, or, “A winter day in which the weather in Erie is actually nice.”

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!