Mixed bag over the weekend at Presque Isle State Park: brutally cold (w/ wind chill) Saturday, warmer Sunday but very little ‘interior’ bird activity. (In other locations in Millcreek Twp – “Gateway to Presque Isle” – 3rd sighting this year of Golden-crowned Kinglet, and 1st of Turkey Vulture!) Nevertheless, plenty of Presque Isle gull and waterfowl activity, e.g., representative recent shots of lovely Canada Goose in flight x bathing:
AAS WARNING: This post contains arachnid-related content. Viewer discretion is advised.
With “no snow” and “not too cold” weather, it was time to dispatch a BirdingPI.com team to wander aimlessly around scour the woods at Presque Isle State Park, in search of exotic birds. Generally in the area around Pine Tree Trail, B Trail, and Dead Pond Trail. Results: 1 Black-capped Chickadee, 1 Tufted Titmouse, 1 ACIF (American Crow in flight), 1 woodpecker-like bird (perhaps Hairy Woodpecker), several Canada Geese in the distance, at least 2 White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), & 7 of everyone’s least-favourite (or perhaps favourite?) parasitic arachnid, the tick.
This particular outing netted some fine samples of Brown Dog Tick & Black-legged Tick a.k.a. Deer Tick. Tick collection helpful hint #1: walk through tall grass. Hint #2: a small, sealed container of alcohol solution works well for transporting samples inertly. Hint #3: collecting tick samples is not a recommended Presque Isle ‘fun activity.’
Seems too early for the yearly “Beware the bite!” PSA, but stay safe!
[Editor’s note to staff: please revisit the multiple instances of “cute” in this post before publication.]
It’s 4x American Robin, 3x American Crow, 2x Downy Woodpecker, & 1x Canada Geese, all recently at South Pier, Erie County, PA:
Lengthy post of wintery content from last Saturday at Presque Isle State Park, featuring weather + birds. Very cold temps (esp. w/ wind chill), alternating between patchy blue sky and lake-effect snow squalls.
Moving on from Long Pond, it’s a Red-tailed Hawk in the woods by Beach No. 11:
Brief stop at North Pier:
Now over at Thompson Bay by the Thompson Circle access:
As seen above + in the following shots, fascinating rapidly-changing conditions of snow squall (almost whiteout) + almost clear/sunny:
Beautiful Common Merganser in flight in snow:
Finally, a quick stop at the outer beach @ Waterworks:
Today’s weather (Friday) in Erie County, PA: chilly, foggy, overcast; weekend forecast: very cold and mostly cloudy Saturday, bit warmer and partially cloudy Sunday. Looks like a bad weekend weather-wise, but happy birding/nature nevertheless! All BirdingPI.com staff members on ‘action alert’ for heading out to Presque Isle State Park! Maybe.
More from last Saturday afternoon at Presque Isle State Park. Mostly different versions of the shots from yesterday’s post, at Leo’s Landing.
Medley of male Northern Cardinal x misc. bird:
Finally, bonus Bald Eagle! Looking back towards the park entrance, on a successful fishing run. (Can’t see the small fish in these shots.)
Hope everyone had a nice/productive GBBC ‘weekend.’ Weather at Presque Isle State Park: Saturday, cold, windy, & overcast with periodic lake-effect snow squalls, rather brutal but dramatic; Sunday, just cold, overcast, & miserable. Nevertheless, plenty of bird activity to report, starting with Part I of content from Leo’s Landing on Saturday:
Medley featuring beautiful Northern Cardinal (m) x misc. bird:
In the center of the following shot of mixed gulls, the BirdingPI.com “Bird of the weekend,” a needle-in-the-haystack sighting of lovely Glaucous Gull. Cue Titanic, “I’m the second largest gull in the world!” (After Great Black-backed Gull.) White head, pink legs, & pale gray back/wings; note especially large size + distinctive white wingtips. Bi-coloured bill suggests 2nd or 3rd winter plumage.
Next time, a fun juxtaposition of mostly different versions of these same shots, + Bald Eagle on the hunt!
More GBH, more Thompson Bay, more fish! Part II of recent shots at Presque Isle State Park featuring predation/foraging behavior.
From a “human aesthetic” standpoint, the Erie County, PA “top 3 winter birds” might include: (i) Bald Eagle (cool/badass/majestic), (ii) Northern Cardinal (a welcome splash of colour), & (iii) Black-capped Chickadee (cute). (Substitute Tufted Titmouse, Mallard, Blue Jay, Red-tailed Hawk, etc. at your preference.) The ‘real’ list is more like: (i) Ring-billed Gull (literally everywhere), (ii) Canada Goose (literally everywhere), & (iii) American Crow (literally everywhere).
Here’s #2. Appropriate for so many reasons.
Several Canada Geese in for a backlit/overcast landing:
One Goose landing:
All shots @ South Pier.
[Editor’s note: BirdingPI.com management apologies for the use of ‘badass’ in this post.]
Day 3 of the GBBC, with cloudy/cold/windy conditions in Erie County, PA. Despite bad weather (cold + on/off lake-effect snow squalls), lots of bird activity at Presque Isle State Park yesterday, esp. on Presque Isle Bay. While waiting on photo editing, had a great time last weekend watching this lovely GBH in ‘foraging/predation mode’ behavior (i.e., fishing) @ Thompson Bay:
When actively fishing, as here, GBH seem much less likely to startle/depart. Hence the lengthy set of reasonably-close photos.
Towards the end of the week, a return to overtly wintery conditions here in Erie County, PA, with cold temps and snow (4 cm?) overnight. As of Thursday, though, the lake/bay around Erie remained ice free = minimal bird activity at places like North Pier/South Pier. Nevertheless, you can always count on gulls, here, mostly Ring-billed Gull at Presque Isle State Park, starting with Leo’s Landing:
Ring-billed Gulls seem fairly successful at ‘dive fishing,’ but guessing maybe a 50% hit rate. Backup strategy = attempt to ‘harass & snatch:’
(Difficult to tell, but shot above includes Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Great Black-backed Gulls at the ‘pointy part’ of Gull Point, as seen from Beach No. 11,)
Wishing everyone a happy GBBC!