Dateline: 22 February 2025
Well, it’s Saturday morning here in Erie County, Pennsylvania and – gasp! — it’s actually sunny! After seemingly a week of constant snowfall, almost a miracle. (Temps low but not super low.) Time for a quick, “partially almost real-time” post for BirdingPI.com staff to get out to Presque Isle State Park ASAP!
Good as place as any for finishing up McClelland Park the other day, esp. fun shots of cute Red-bellied Woodpecker:
Wishing everyone a “Happy Friday.” Unless you’re in Australia (for example), in which case “Hope you’re enjoying the weekend!” It’s lunchtime here in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and looks like seafood’s on the menu:
Unless indicated otherwise, all shots female (or immature) Red-breasted Merganser, as above and immediately below, including a tasty crustacean, @ South Pier.
(Shot above mostly Redhead, Mallard, & Lesser Scaup ducks.)
(Shot above mostly Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Canvasback, & Lesser Scaup ducks w/ an American Coot or two.)
It’s the third or fourth day today of a mid-week “deep freeze” here in Erie County, Pennsylvania, with snowy conditions and temps around -9 degrees C. In bird news, the PI Bay entrance channel between North Pier and South Pier re-froze as of yesterday; still lots of duck activity in flight between open pockets of water @ outer Lake Erie and unfrozen portions of outer Misery Bay. More South Pier/duck pictures forthcoming, but here’s the final installment of snowy photography from this past Saturday at Presque Isle State Park, with a brief/cold stop at Thompson Bay/ Beach 11:
Shot above (+ similar shot at top of post) is from Beach 11, looking east-ish towards outer Thompson Bay (foreground) + Gull Point (horizon). The tree line is ‘inner’ Gull Point, with outer Gull Point (mud flats, dunes, observation platforms, etc.) on the right horizon and mostly obscured by snow.
In today’s post, more snowy/gloomy bird photography this past Saturday at Presque Isle State Park, moving on to North Pier. Following’s the view southeast from North Pier, with the east end of South Pier on the right and the Hammermill smoke stacks middle horizon; East Ave Boat Launch would be on the right horizon:
Male Common Goldeneye landing in snowfall:
Coming up soon, more snow, more cold!
Recent weather in Erie County, Pennsylvania = wintery. Rain, snow, more snow, wind, cold, even worse cold, etc. These shots from Presque Isle State Park this past Saturday morning, w/ snow and very dark/gloomy lighting conditions:
The GBH below is in the shot above, left of center below the horizon.
Unless otherwise indicated, following shots are American Tree Sparrow @ snowy conditions, by Long Pond – maybe a flock of 20+:
Lots of ducks assembled in this interesting spot of open water on Long Pond. These include Hooded Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Lesser Scaup, Mallard, & American Black Duck:
Unfortunately, even though BirdingPI.com’s staff photographer was by the road (& thereby fairly far away from this pocket of duck activity), startled fairly quickly:
No BirdingPI.com field operations yesterday (Sunday) due to inclement weather (rain then heavy snow), except for random “snowy forest” meandering in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”), for fresh air/outside suffering:
While waiting on photo editing of snowy/gloomy Presque Isle content from Saturday, it’s more ducks at South Pier, Erie, Pennsylvania:
Male (right) and female (left) Ring-necked Ducks in flight:
Can’t get enough Common Goldeneye (males):
Finally, a nice sequence of female/immature Red-breasted Merganser in flight/escape/takeoff mode:
Coming up soon, yes, more duck!
“Interior” bird activity at Presque Isle State Park remains highly localized/sporadic, but there’s lots and lots of waterfowl action wherever there’s open water, e.g., as in these recent shots, in the entrance channel to Presque Isle Bay, between North Pier and South Pier. (So much activity, this outing resulted in 500+ digital photographs in the span of about 1/2 hour! Yikes – it’s a lot of photo editing.)
Always fun to see cute Common Goldeneye flying and landing; these are males:
Male @ middle, females left and right:
Female Common Goldeneye landing:
Finally, more shots of a male Redhead and several Lesser Scaups:
Water conditions at Presque Isle Bay remain highly variable, e.g., head of Presque Isle Bay mostly completely frozen yesterday (Saturday), but PI Bay entrance channel into outer Misery Bay completely unfrozen. Rain overnight last night = likely more open water today (Sunday). However, temps are expected to plunge later in the week. Best places for duck viewing: North Pier & South Pier, also Perry Monument (sometimes), but check places like Thompson Bay, Long Pond, Marina Lake, & head of PI Bay for spots of open water.
Due to bandwidth/other issues, there are many draft/unpublished posts in the BirdingPI.com database. Since everyone’s busy today anyway with snowy Presque Isle State Park field operations (snowy photographs forthcoming), it’s time for the draft post grab bag! Without further ado, from an indeterminate time/date/location in the past…
It’s a Herring Gull. On a pole.
Not ideal lighting on some of these shots, but still great to see three relatively uncommon (for Presque Isle State Park) species of sea duck, on three different, recent days in the channel between North Pier and South Pier. (See yesterday’s post for more duck activity at this location.) First up, a beautiful male White-winged Scoter:
The Scoter, of course, has the knobby bill and distinctive white “comma” mark by the eye; @ lower right in picture above, & far left in following picture. The other ducks are mostly Lesser Scaup and Red-breasted Merganser. (The Scoter was in one of the shots yesterday of the landing Lesser Scaup.)
This is a BirdingPI.com “first time ever” for seeing a White-winged Scoter close to shore. More commonly seen flying far in the distance over outer Lake Erie.
Next up, same location, different day, great to see a female Surf Scoter, first floating, then flying. Distinctive field markings: two white patches on the face, one by the bill and one behind the eye, + chunky bill. (Always pays to pay attention for any duck with two white markings on the face, e.g., another possible species is the rarely seen Harlequin Duck (female), which would have a more elegant/curved bill + rear white marking less ‘smudgy.’)
Finally, same location on yet another day, a super cute Long-tailed Duck (immature/non-breeding plumage):
Wishing everyone a nice weekend! Forecast in Erie County, Pennsylvania: cold, snow.
Recent weather in Erie County, Pennsylvania: cold, frequently overcast/gloomy, & windy. Just like last Saturday here at Presque Isle State Park:
Ice/water conditions highly variable/localized, e.g., ice (& ice fisherfolk, as above) in one spot, open water in others, like here at head of PI Bay, w/ Tundra Swans and misc. duck:
Now on to ducks, etc. as seen from North Pier:
Male Lesser Scaup landing sequence:
Finally, beautiful Tundra Swans @ partially frozen Thompson Bay:
[Editor’s note: Somewhere in one of these shots is an unidentified waterfowl in the ‘not terribly common at Presque Isle’ category. ‘Where’s Waldo?’ More on this ‘mystery bird’ coming up soon, along with other recent uncommon sightings!]