Weather today in Erie, PA: cold and light snow. While waiting for warmer weather (hopefully tomorrow), and by “popular demand,” it’s time for digital content featuring a beautiful Ring-billed Gull at South Pier:
1 Gull/South Pier
Surf’s Up
Weather today in Erie County, Pennsylvania: overcast, cold, + light wintery mix, yuck:
While waiting on photo editing, back to the sunny northern California coast at Half Moon Bay, featuring Surf Scoter @ actual surf:
Individual exhibiting foraging/eating behavior:
All shots @ 800mm from the blufftop.
Easter Flowers
Wishing folks in relevant audiences a Happy Easter, featuring spring flowers from yesterday in Erie County, Pennsylvania, along Elk Creek:
And the winner is…
Always exciting to await the BirdingPI.com “first warbler of the year that isn’t a Yellow-rumped Warbler at Gull Point.” Most years, it’s a Yellow-rumped Warbler seen somewhere other than Gull Point. This year, however, a surprise and rather great/early sighting yesterday of a warbler-adjacent Blue-headed Vireo at Presque Isle State Park:
Looks like spring migration season’s off to a good start! Yay!
Bonus Squirrels
Bonus post today featuring recent digital photographs of Fox Squirrels (Sciurus niger) at McClelland Park, Erie, PA:
A. Robin(s)
No post yesterday due to torrential rain and localized flooding; that’s the story, and we’re sticking with it. For today’s post, a spring regular in Erie County, Pennsylvania, the ubiquitous and beautiful American Robin:
“King”bird
Golden-crowned Kinglets overwintered this year in Erie County, Pennsylvania, but the numbers were far fewer than with the current influx of spring migrants, like these two recently seen at Leo’s Landing, Presque Isle State Park:
Weekend Update
Welcome to spring, Erie County, Pennsylvania style! First up, “Beware the bite!” Warmer weather = ticks, and, locally, lots of them, like this awful, tiny, male Deer Tick (Ixodes scapularis) recently captured in Millcreek Twp (“Since 1800”). Ticks like this are about the size of a small pinhead, so be on the lookout! Avoid awful diseases!
Next up, ongoing bad weather! Unpleasantly cold this last Friday and Saturday, with a few snowflakes. Rain last night and today, but at least it was warmer.
Next up, today (31 March) marks the last day of the season for unrestricted access to Gull Point. 1 April – 31 October = nesting season, with most of the outer point closed except for observation platform access. Here’s a picture from Sunday of the bay-side beach just west of the Gull Point outer/mudflat area; access to this location will be closed as of tomorrow.
Next up, and most importantly, a slow but steady uptick in “new for spring” bird species to Erie Co., like these Caspian Terns:
Also Blue-winged Teal (male on right, female on left):
And Bonaparte’s Gulls (a.k.a. American Pixie Gulls):
The Turkey Vultures have been around for a bit, but there’s currently lots and lots of them all over the place, as they migrate east/north:
Nice sighting of Greater Yellowlegs on Sunday, along the Gull Point Trail:
The Ospreys are back, too:
Finally, slightly earlier than usual, a beautiful Brown Thrasher, “The only thrasher east of the MississippiTM.”
Battle of the Planets!
Still at the Coyote Point Yacht Club, it’s long distance (i.e., blurry) shots of 2x Belted Kingfisher! Emphasis!
This post dedicated to JAM.
At the Yacht Club/2
From near/around the Coyote Point Yacht Club in San Mateo, CA, it’s grebes and things, from a couple weeks ago:
The lighting was less than ideal on the following shots (e.g., back/side lit), but still a really great sighting of a pair of beautiful Clark’s Grebes in San Francisco Bay. ID: long, thin, yellow bill; black cap; eyes surrounded by white; and red line between eye and bill. (In the similar looking Western Grebe, the dark cap would extend below the eye.)
