Dateline: 5 January 2023
Happy US National Bird Day! After heavy rain all day Wednesday, mostly dry today, but cooler. Very little bird activity. Besides hawks, celebrating NBD with new shots on the BirdingPI.com main page, plus random ‘exotics’ in the form of Blue Grosbeak from this past summer at San Pedro House in Arizona.
Dateline: 30 December 2022-3 January 2023.
Right now in Erie, PA it’s all about the weather. Friday: nice day, very warm (see previous post); Saturday: moderate/heavy on-and-off rain; Sunday: overcast with almost a hint of sun, turning to generalized overcast and widespread drizzle/light rain by mid-afternoon; Monday: partially sunny and mild in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”), 9 degree C cooler and heavy fog at Presque Isle State Park – almost zero visibility on the back bay; Tuesday: rain and lots of it. Snow has melted, and Presque Isle Bay, etc. have returned to “mostly unfrozen” state. Lake Erie remains unfrozen with little float ice. Presque Isle trail conditions: generally wet and muddy.
Species spotted New Year’s Day: Northern Cardinal; Downy Woodpecker; Pileated Woodpecker; Eastern Bluebird; Black-capped Chickadee; Canada Goose; crow; House Sparrow; Ring-billed Gull; Mallard; Ring-necked Duck; Bufflehead; Belted Kingfisher; European Starling; domestic Mallard (American Pekin); GBH; Bald Eagle; Common Loon; Horned Grebe; Red-tailed Hawk; Rock Pigeon (i.e., common pigeon); Double-crested Cormorant; American Coot; etc. Photography conditions generally poor; a few ok examples:
Ring-billed Gull w/ fish @ Long Pond:
Two shots of beautiful Common Loon near North Pier:
Monday, a bit of blue sky south of Presque Isle. Fair amount of American Robin activity, apparently heading south:
Meanwhile, extremely foggy at Presque Isle State Park:
Aside from rare geese, the ‘bird of the weekend’ was this amazing Barred Owl near the corner of Canoe Portage Trail and Duck Pond Trail:
Winter advantage: easy to scan the treetops for ‘bird profiles.’
Tough conditions shooting high up into a tree in the fog against an overcast sky. These shots adjusted for contrast and brightness.
End portion of Duck Pond Trail closest to Duck Pond was passable but extremely muddy and wet – not recommended until things freeze again or dry out.
Next time, a special report from Sunday! #more_bird!
Seems ducks are always spooking in the wrong direction, so nice to get a decent view of these Mallard males and females along the flight path, @ Long Pond, Presque Isle State Park. Less than a week of regular duck hunting season left – hang in there, guys!
[Photo Editor’s note: These photos a bit overexposed originally, adjusted in Photoshop before posting here. Hence a bit uneven.]
Always hard getting two or more Black-capped Chickadee in the same frame, so happy with these shots from Friday:
Bonus post of Eastern Bluebird @ Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) + friends. #Happy_2023
Two of Pileated Woodpecker:
And two of Northern Cardinal (m):
Dateline: 30 December 2022
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a great 2023!
It was time once again for the yearly BirdingPI.com “around New Year’s trek to Gull Point if conditions permit,” in this instance time-shifted to Friday afternoon due to the forecast weekend bad weather. (Weather Saturday: rain, rain, and more rain.) Last year: beautiful weather and an amazing Peregrine Falcon. This year, it was looking like Downy Woodpecker and gulls. Which are great, but no need for the Gull Point hike to see gulls.
As previously reported, weather was abnormally warm – nice to be out without hats/gloves. Trail conditions along the beach: icy and tangled with downed trees, but manageable. (Warm enough for the ice dunes to be soft enough for traction.) Trail conditions on the outer old trail: passable but very icy; not recommended.
Almost nothing at Gull Point – Mallard ducks in a melt spot on the back bay, and occasional overhead passing gulls.
Then, Gull Point/”expect the unexpected:” a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese flying over the lake generally from northeast to southwest. Officially something in the ‘rather amazing’/rare category = Presque Isle State Park not along the usual migratory path. ID tips: brownish overall colour, distinctive white face patch, and black splotches on the belly. Per All About Birds, orange legs and beaks = subspecies flavirostris, Greenland-breeding.
From a Presque Isle birding perspective, no better way to end 2022!
Later today, bonus post with Eastern Bluebird!
Significantly overcast and rainy this Saturday morning in the greater Erie, PA area. OTOH, beautiful Friday yesterday, partially sunny with abnormally high temps of around 17 deg C (63 deg F) and a warm breeze from the south = like a nice spring day.
Not unexpectedly, birds were out in force enjoying the weather: Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Eastern Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pileated Woodpecker, crow, Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-breasted Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, House Sparrow, etc.
Been tough getting good Tufted Titmouse shots this season. Thankfully, the streak of bad luck is over with this series of rather nice photos that ends on a hoppin’ high note.
More on the Friday activity – especially Eastern Bluebird – next time!
Thought “Gullmania” was over? Enough gull shots in the hopper to last until the Roman numerals get too confusing to figure out. #gull_filler All photos at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, PA.
As forecast, the weather in Erie turned substantially warmer this week; much of the snow has melted. Forecast for the weekend: rainy and relatively mild. Conditions sound bad for birding/photography, but hoping for the best as always.
From Monday at North Pier, Presque Isle State Park, this American Coot was bathing/preening, followed by gesticulating in the frigid air for apparently removing excess water from ‘places that American Coot don’t want excess water.’ Then returning to the waters of Thompson Bay.
Bonus shots: American Coot + Greater Scaup (f):
