Having made it back successfully from Gull Point over the weekend, it was time to decompress with further unpleasantly cold temperatures, wind, snow, etc., all made worthwhile by fun bird sightings like this Black-capped Chickadee @ Millcreek Twp (“Since 1800”):
“Decompress:” it’s an ‘Open the pod bay door, HAL’ joke; BirdingPI.com -the dodgy nature content website that just keeps giving and giving!
Still trapped in the Gull Point time vortex this past Saturday at Presque Isle State Park. (And nothing better to do when trapped in a time vortex than photo editing!)
More Peregrine Falcon, sequence 1:
More Peregrine Falcon, sequence 2:
Finally, close to Budny Beach, a sequence of front-lit Red-breasted Merganser w/ dark sky (approaching snow squalls) background:
Hiking out to Gull Point in the winter is like the star portal in 2001: A Space Odyssey – transported involuntarily to places you don’t understand, where time has no meaning, after which you are ambiguously reborn as something beyond human comprehension. But first, it’s the long trip to Jupiter Budny Beach, starting with birds on Presque Isle Bay this past Saturday:
Next time, still trapped in the time portal!
Sunny yesterday in Erie County, Pennsylvania, but also very, very cold. Sun = good for well-lit exposures, bad for atmospheric heat shimmer, e.g., as at the horizon of this shot of Presque Isle Bay looking east towards North Pier (left) and South Pier (right):
In addition to cold temps, also at Presque Isle State Park yesterday, birds! Like these nice sightings of Red-shouldered Hawk & Red-breasted Merganser:
Beautiful day yesterday at Presque Isle State Park, up until 1:30PM when surprise snow squalls moved in with force. (Enough for a National Weather Service ’emergency broadcast’ over the cell network.) The following two shots were taken at Budny Beach (Beach No. 10) at approximately 1:17PM. The first is looking generally east – it’s turned into a nice, sunny day!
The second is looking generally west at a very dark line of approaching cold/snow – looks like the ‘nice, sunny’ day’s days are numbered:
After that, it was pretty much white-out. But earlier in the day, at outer Gull Point, it was time for always fun and always cute Snow Buntings! To give curious readers a sense of how hard they are to spot on the ground:
Following are all Snow Bunting (non-breeding plumage) on the ground and in the air, under cloudy conditions:
Best bet for Snow Bunting at Presque Isle: hike out Gull Point to the observation platforms (followed by walking the perimeter beach if needed), keeping an ear out for “peeping” and an eye out for groups of small birds in flight. (Other candidate for small winter flocks @ outer Gull Point = American Tree Sparrow.)
In today’s post, digital photographs from a few days ago at East Ave Boat Launch (Erie, Pennsylvania), featuring the first decent sighting this year of beautiful Song Sparrow on the boat launch breakwater:
Lots of snow in Erie County, Pennsylvania yesterday. Lots and lot of snow. And cold. Also wind. And cold wind with snow. Maybe 30+ cm (12+ inches) of fresh powder, if not more. These shots of American Tree Sparrows foraging on snow-covered phragmites (common reed) – taken under very dark/overcast conditions – from a very brief and rather ill-advised stop at South Pier:
Great Black-backed Gull is the largest of the gulls and terns in the Laridae taxonomic family, so it’s nice to have a few in Erie County, Pennsylvania this time of year. (Also, large size + black back + pink legs = easy to spot.) One of the several individuals at Beach 11 at Presque Isle State Park the other day was the largest we’ve seen:
Note the size difference between it and nearby Ring-billed Gulls:
Left of center = adult Great Black-backed Gull, right of center is probably immature/juvenile Great Black-backed Gull:
Another good size comparison:
With Lake Erie (including Presque Isle Bay) and many of the interior ponds at Presque Isle State Park remaining unfrozen, much of the waterfowl activity has become somewhat diffused. There are always gulls, however, e.g., as with these Ring-billed Gulls on Long Pond the other day, engaging in foraging/fishing behaviour:
Today’s post features the rest of nature, etc. content from this last Saturday in and around Presque Isle State Park, featuring the first BirdingPI.com sighting of Wild Turkeys this year, near the lagoon boat launch. Yay Wild Turkeys!
Another ‘first of year’ bird, Common Raven in flight over Presque Isle Bay:
Erie clear enough of ice for the arrival of Kaministiqua bulk carrier (see also shot above of it passing through the bay entrance channel):
