Beautiful weather in Erie County, PA on Friday, Monday, & Tuesday – mostly sunny with unseasonably mild temps (e.g., high of 21 deg C / 70 deg F on Monday). Saturday & Sunday: mostly overcast and chilly. Other than localized mud (e.g., B Trail, west end of Long Pond Trail, portions of Gull Point Trail), conditions at Presque Isle State Park generally good. ‘Interior’ bird activity remains very minimal; plenty of gull and waterfowl activity on the lake and bay, e.g., ducks:

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Wednesday forecast calls for ‘plummeting’ temperatures + cooler the rest of the week. Good luck and happy birding!

Some nice shots of beautiful Common Grackle at Presque Isle State Park, on a recent sunny day at Leo’s Landing:

A veritable potpourri of recent, sunny, late-winter birds in Millcreek Twp, PA (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). First up, a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk:

Mourning Dove in snow & sun:

Beautiful and noisy European Starling:

Lovely female House Finch:

A beautiful, sunny, mild Friday, March 1st 2024 in Erie County, PA. Saturday morning: overcast with light rain. While waiting on the weather, here’s another in BirdingPI.com’s occasional series of Erie winter/late winter birds. First up, the lovely and improbably-coloured Red-bellied Woodpecker:

And an extra-cute Tufted Titmouse exhibiting woodpecker-like foraging behavior:

And beautiful male Red-winged Blackbird on a Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) tree:

Happy March! Just two-and-a-half weeks until the first day of Spring 2024. In the meantime, plenty of volatile and occasionally-wintery weather in Erie County, PA, e.g., Tuesday into Wednesday unusually mild, transitioning into thunderstorms overnight Tuesday, then warm w/ hazy sunshine Wednesday morning followed by strong winds, increasing clouds & light rain, a daytime drop in temperature by 17 deg C (30 deg F), & wind/light snow/bitter cold overnight into Thursday.

Erie forecast calls for warmer temps Friday-Sunday with a mix of clouds and sun. Looking forward to lots of bird activity (hopefully). Until then, misc. bird from the recent past, mostly at Presque Isle State Park:

First two, then three Great Black-backed Gulls @ Beach No. 11:

(See previous post for video w/ vocalizations. Relatively uncommon to hear Great Black-backed Gulls; these were quite noisy, in their low-key way.)

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Celebrating the leap year with (i) a new ‘Special Report’ @ GBH/Beach & Air, & (ii) random nature content. Sadly, no video of/on the moon, just recent moon shots + bird video from Presque Isle State Park:

Following is Great Black-backed Gull (x2) at Beach No. 11. Hard to discern in the background noise, but these gulls were unusually vocal for GB-bG – it’s kind of a low “Uh!” sound that can be heard towards the start of the clip:

This is about as “Erie winter” as it gets – under cold/overcast conditions, a lovely Ring-billed Gull perched and preening on a rusty pylon at East Ave boat launch:

It can be hit-or-miss, but a cold, late-morning hour last Saturday at Scott Park in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) yielded numerous trees and several nice birds.

Amazing juvenile Cooper’s Hawk:

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BirdingPI.com’s first pictures of Golden-crowned Kinglet this year (this is the 3rd sighting in February):

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Scott Park is 108 acres of mixed recreational facilities + natural woodland & can be accessed at the corner of W. 6th St. and Lowell Ave. About a 5 minute drive from the entrance to Presque Isle State Park. Watch out for mountain bikers and loose dogs.

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!

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[Editor’s note to staff: please revisit the multiple instances of “cute” in this post before publication.]