Winter Birds (2)

More ‘winter birds’ recently seen in Erie County, Pennsylvania, featuring White-breasted Nuthatch:

Black-capped Chickadee
Eastern Bluebird foraging in Staghorn Sumac
Male Eastern Bluebird
Northern Flicker
Male House Finch
Female or immature Eastern Bluebird
The rear end of this post

Winter Birds (1)

Another cold morning in Millcreek Twp, Pennsylvania (“Since 1800”), but should “warm up” later today and into the week, with highs above freezing forecast for tomorrow/Tuesday (!)

American Goldfinch on icy Multiflora Rose bush

Despite the cold, there are still birds, as in these recent digital photographs taken in Erie County:

Male House Sparrow
American Goldfinches
Dark-eyed Junco (l) + female Eastern Bluebird (r)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Junco and Bluebird 2
Dark-eyed Junco on snowy branch
Goldfinches 2
Junco and Bluebird 3
Black-capped Chickadee
Goldfinches 3
Junco and Bluebird 4
Eastern Bluebirds (female on left, male on right)
Goldfinches 4
Male House Sparrow 2
American Crow, back view, foraging on Staghorn Sumac
Male Eastern Bluebird in snow
Northern Flicker
Male Eastern Bluebird 2
Female Hairy Woodpecker
Male Eastern Bluebird 3
Black-capped Chickadee 2
A final Bluebird in snow

Winter Bathing Beauties

Back to Presque Isle Marina a week ago, featuring (unless otherwise noted) beautiful Red-breasted Merganser taking advantage of the open water.

Open pools w/ Great Black-backed Gull @ center

Male, female, & immature Red-breasted Merganser:

Male Common Goldeneye @ center/foreground:

Crow/Snow

At last, cooperative American Crow subjects so we could finally use this title for a blog post. Only took 17.5 hours of waiting out in the cold.

[Editor’s note: “17.5 hours” should be in quotes. Or perhaps change ‘hours’ to ‘minutes.’]

[BirdingPI.com ornithology specialist note: interesting to see American Crow foraging on Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). Usually associate such behavior with American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Eastern Bluebird, etc. It must happen regularly, but never noticed this behavior in American Crow before. Perhaps the long spell of cold weather has made other food sources scarcer?]

The Merlin

Lucky to see Merlin a couple times a year in Erie County, Pennsylvania, so this sighting a few days ago in Millcreek Twp (“Since 1800”) of this beautiful falcon species was a happy occasion. Of course, it’s weird to have a bird named after avian vocal recognition software, so hopefully as part of the AOS project to re-name honorific bird names, they’ll come up with something more appropriate like “Gandalf.”

Morning Glory

Looks like more extremely cold weather coming this weekend to Erie County, Pennsylvania. These shots from last Sunday morning at dawn at Presque Isle Marina, where the air temp was maybe around 4 deg F. On the other hand, little wind, and the sunshine made for good exposure on beautiful birds like this male Bufflehead (right):

American Coot (l) + male Bufflehead (r)
PI Marina @ dawn
Canada Goose in flight
Mostly Lesser Scaups
Herring Gull
CGIF
Pools w/ ducks and geese
Flight 2
More geese and ducks
CGIF 3
Lesser Scaups (left & lower right) + Red-breasted Mergansers
Marina @ dawn 2
Pair of Canada Geese in flight
Scaups and Mergansers 3
Ring-necked Duck (m, center)

And with the protracted cold weather, even these Canada Geese are finally heading south:

Canada Geese flying south from Presque Isle State Park
Great Black-backed Gull @ preening
Male Common Goldeneye (l) + Red-breasted Mergansers
Male Common Mergansers in flight
Preening gull 2
Goldeneye & Merganser 2
Red-breasted Mergansers landing at PI Marina
Frozen Coot
Male Bufflehead in sunlight
More pools and ducks
Bufflehead dives
Another pool, more ducks – mostly Ring-necked Ducks w/ 1 male Redhead

Goldeneye

Sadly, no recent sightings of Pierce Brosnan in Erie County, Pennsylvania, but even if so, not sure that would qualify as “Other animals” for eBird. Maybe. Anyway, today’s post features a duo of male Common Goldeneye in flight over South Pier, plus the obligatory seasonal “Lake Erie frozen over” shots from this past weekend. Please enjoy responsibly.

Lake Erie view north-ish from Sunset Point

#more_Eagle

While waiting on photo editing for more content from this past weekend at Presque Isle State Park, it’s back to South Pier the other day, with several Bald Eagles very interested in an open pool of water.

South Pier
View NE from end of South Pier towards outer Lake Erie

“Oasis”

With Presque Isle Bay, outer Lake Erie, and the interior ponds at Presque Isle State Park all frozen over, migrating waterfowl look to wherever there’s open water, the best spot being Presque Isle Marina where underground pumps keep the water recirculating in Marina Lake to avoid ice damage to dock infrastructure.

Female Ring-necked Duck at Presque Isle Marina

These shots from a very cold and mostly gloomy (ice fog/snow drizzle) Saturday, although with no one on staff thinking to take an ‘environmental context’ shot Saturday (ahem), this is from Sunday:

Presque Isle Marina, Sunday morning

Current transients at the marina include Bufflehead (left/middle), Red-breasted Merganser (right of middle), and Lesser Scaup (right, bottom middle), plus Canada Geese, Common Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, etc. (shown below):

Canada Geese in flight
Open pools at marina w/ Great Black-backed Gull @ center
Ring-necked Ducks in flight
Male Common Merganser landing by docks
Male Lesser Scaup
Lesser Scaup (l) + Ring-necked Duck (r)
Male Common Merganser in flight
Common Merganser, Herring Gulls, & Great Black-backed Gull
Merganser takes off in snow drizzle
Mixed ducks
Another shot of female Ring-necked Duck
Immature Herring Gull I
Gull II
Ring-necked Ducks
Immature or female Red-breasted Merganser
Male Red-breasted Merganser
Red-breasted Mergansers
Oasis pool (note single male Mallard @ far right)

Frozen

Another day of low high temps yesterday in Erie County, Pennsylvania, e.g., -12 deg C as of 2 PM. Presque Isle State Park very ‘frozen over’ and quiet except for the ice fisherpeople at busy places like Misery Bay. These shots from Thursday at South Pier again, where the remaining open water had finally frozen over:

South Pier view northeast
American Coots on ice

With the channel fully iced over, passing ducks were mostly checking things out (flying low to find water) and then moving on to Presque Isle Bay or outer Lake Erie:

Lesser Scaups in flight

Or, like several Tundra Swans seen high overhead, heading south:

Tundra Swan vocalizes as it flies south
Female Lesser Scaup in flight
Tundra Swans II
Lesser Scaups in flight II
Female Lesser Scaup II
Lesser Scaups in flight III
Tundra Swans III
Male Red-breasted Merganser
Male Redheads (left) + Lesser Scaups
Lesser Scaups in flight IV

Nice sequence of female Common Goldeneye:

Female Lesser Scaup III
Lesser Scaups in flight V
Lesser Scaups in flight VI
Lesser Scaups in flight VII
Male Lesser Scaup in flight
Lesser Scaups in flight VIII
Male Lesser Scaup II
Lesser Scaups in flight IX
Male Lesser Scaup III
Lesser Scaups in flight X
Male Lesser Scaup IV

Coming up soon, still cold in Erie!