Shades Beach Park, east of Erie, PA on Lake Erie. There’s a beach, there’s a park (grass, playground, picnic areas, etc.), there’s a boat launch, lots of great habitat diversity in a relatively small area. In early spring, just not so much shade. (= good for bird photography.)

Used to looking easterly towards N/S Piers from the west side of Presque Isle, on the back bay. Here’s the ‘opposite’ view from Shades Beach, looking west across Lake Erie towards Presque Isle with South Pier middle left and North Pier (+ North Pier Light) middle right:

Here’s a sunny Bufflehead (male) w/ ok capture (on some shots) of feather iridescence:

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Following shot is looking up Eightmile Creek. (In the photo labeled “View E/NE…” above, the creek is on the right.)

Herring Gulls where Eightmile Creek empties into Lake Erie:

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There were at least two Belted Kingfisher on this occasion, flying up and down Eightmile Creek and also over Lake Erie and back around:

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Another great view of Presque Isle State Park. This is from the Shades Beach Park bluff looking generally west across Lake Erie. Sunset Point (and its breakwaters) on far right, + Budny Beach middle/left-middle:

Beautiful Golden-crowned Kinglet:

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Apparently there’s a solar eclipse in Erie County, PA on Monday:

Sun hasn’t been seen in days, so good thing the eclipse wasn’t this week. (See yesterday’s post.)

More advice on I79 – (1) “Solar Eclipse Monday”; (2) “Slow Down”:

Unsure what vehicle speed on Thursday has to do with a solar eclipse on Monday. “Prepare for daytime darkness” or “Avoid Erie” or “Have fun!” would be better advice. Or maybe a “Wow!”

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Anyway, time for bird content, with rather cool shots of Gull Point on a recent evening, taken from East Ave boat launch:

A classic mass gull/bird takeoff, usually resulting from a passing raptor. In the shots above & below, the bird in the upper middle right appears to be a GBH, but the bird on the far middle right could be a Bald Eagle, maybe:

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Finally, by popular demand & even more exciting than an eclipse, it’s Turkey Vulture eating gull droppings x Great Black-backed Gull on North Pier:

Rain turning to wet snow this fine spring morning in Erie County, PA. Please enjoy a snowy Pileated Woodpecker:

Beautiful Wood Ducks are back for the spring in Erie County, PA. Good, easily-accessible places to see Wood Ducks at Presque Isle State Park: Leo’s Landing, Long Pond, & Thompson Circle swamp/pond. These shots at Leo’s Landing.

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Bonus MIF (Mallard in flight) at South Pier:

Variable spring weather continues in Erie County, PA: Sunny on Friday, overcast on Saturday, foggy on Sunday, eventually Sunny on Monday, rainy today. Plenty of bird content on tap; here’s a brief photo essay of morning at East Ave boat launch, on a sunny day last week:

100% guaranteed not an April Fool’s joke. From this past (holiday) Friday at Presque Isle State Park, an amazing sighting of five Purple Sandpiper on the beach adjacent outer Thompson Bay, along the Gull Point Trail. (This is the beach access by where the main/official trail turns at ‘big bend.’) Pictures of the larger group forthcoming; in the meantime: one individual, mostly preening behavior:

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[Photo Editor’s note: tough shooting against the sun = difficult lighting conditions + slightly funky exposure even w/ adjustments. Overly blue water color on some of these shots = artifact from Adobe Lightroom auto-adjustment.]

Early spring spotlight on Eastern Phoebe. Regularly seeing this lovely bird at multiple locations in Erie County, PA, e.g., East Ave boat launch, Gull Point Trail, Shades Beach Park, etc.

Characteristic dark head; can appear very dark from a distance:

Smudgy gray on sides of breast, lightly yellow underbelly, & weak wing bars :

Static pictures don’t help, but characteristically wags tail up and down.

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At Thompson Circle, this individual was ‘pond dipping:’ perched above pond, then dropping down to the water surface for hunting insects, etc.:

After successfully catching a water insect, flew off to the nearby shrubbery and out of sight:

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Beautiful day Friday (after noon-ish) in Erie County, PA, then hazy Saturday morning turning to rain this afternoon. (Generally chilly both days.) Lots of great bird sightings to report, but while waiting on photo editing, here’s Ring-billed Gulls at the Liberty Park marina area (Erie, PA), just before sunset the other evening:

Re-purposed some ‘subject out of frame‘ shots for artistic/abstract effect:

Reminder that with ‘nesting season’ starting Monday, 1 April 2024, this is the last weekend for unrestricted access to Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park. And now, time for more Turkey Vulture at Thompson Bay!

Some nice shots of a lovely Red-winged Blackbird (male) exhibiting preening behavior + lots of shaking/flapping. Presque Isle State Park, Erie, PA.

[Photo Editor’s note: tough to capture both black feather detail + ‘stop motion.’ These shots mostly @ 1/2500 sec in spot metering mode + exposure compensation +0.3-+0.7, + auto adjustment in Adobe Lightroom then manual contrast adjustment.]