Dateline: 22 December 2023

For this post on the first full day of winter 2023, it was once again time to spin the “Wheel of Birds,” which landed on “Blurry Canada Goose.” And with that, apologies, but the “Wheel of Birds” has been de-commissioned in favour of this alternative, rather great content from the Gull Point Trail, Presque Isle State Park.

Cloudy & cold, but dry and above freezing. Overall rather modest/light bird activity along the ‘official outer’ trail, until a flurry of birds in the shrubbery/trees by the ‘big bend’ (where the trail comes closest to the bay side, turning generally N/S-ish to E/W-ish). Bird of the day, amazing to see a few lovely Yellow-rumped Warblers on the first day of winter:

Also a decent number of beautiful American Tree Sparrow, here (& above & below) foraging on Bayberry (probably Myrica pensylvanica):

More Yellow-rumped Warbler + American Tree Sparrow:

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[Special Photo Editor’s section: For anyone disappointed with the ‘bait-and-switch’ on the post title, it’s a ‘Christmas bonus’ of blurry Canada Goose:

Rainy Saturday today in Erie County, PA. For today’s post, spun the “wheel of birds” again, landing on “Gulls in flight”/GIF. Fortunately there’s enough shots in the hopper for some GIF + eating/fishing + bathing. (Or at least wet.) These are Ring-billed Gull at East Ave boat launch.

Hard to see, but this talented laddie or lassie caught two fish at once:

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Exhibiting “water removal by shaking during flight” behavior:

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More “water removal by shaking during flight” behavior:

Even w/ completely upside down head:

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For the first full day of winter, and with dry/cloudy/cold conditions, it was time to head back to Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park. Full report forthcoming. In the meantime, spun the “wheel of birds” and landed, entirely by chance, on “Arizona/summer.” (Also on the ‘wheel of birds:’ (i) gulls bathing; (ii) gulls in flight; (iii) gulls eating fish; (iv) gull potpourri; & (v) blurry Canada Geese.)

So, back to Christopher Columbus Park in Tucson, AZ, with lots of reasonably nice bird portraiture. Following, beautiful female Great-tailed Grackle:

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Two of Eurasian Collared Dove:

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Mixed birds: Magpie Duck (domestic escapee, on left); American Coot x2 (foreground); Snow Goose (white bird in middle); Muscovy Duck (domestic escapee, rear middle); & probably Mexican Duck (right).

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More beautiful female Great-tailed Grackle:

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Two of lovely Green Heron:

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Beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher (m) exhibiting preening behavior:

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Finally, male Great-tailed Grackle, w/ lovely blue/black colour:

What better way to celebrate winter solstice 2023 than with more gull content? Here, a special focus on Lesser Black-backed Gulls, seen multiple times recently at Beach No. 11 @ Presque Isle State Park.

First, as part of BirdingPI.com’s DEI initiative, proposing a more inviting name for this lovely gull, relative to Great Black-backed Gull, such as:

• “Great Black-backed Gull” & “Slightly Smaller Black-backed Gull”
• “Great Black-backed Gull” & “Also Great Black-backed Gull,” etc.

Stay tuned for more on this front, along with further “no birds named after racist/bad humans” re-naming announcements.

Moving on to substantive matters, for comparison purposes, a Great Black-backed Gull on the breakwater off Budny Beach:

ID tips – large gull, pink legs, black or dark slate wings/back, white chest/head, and yellow bill with red spot:

Fun fact: Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull species in the world!

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Now on to Beach No. 11. Amongst mixed gulls, gull in upper left corner standing on one leg = Lesser Black-backed Gull. ID tips: smaller than Great Black-backed Gull + Herring Gull; larger than Ring-billed Gull; yellow legs; wings/back may be lighter than Great Black-backed Gull, but even if so, much darker than Herring Gull; yellow beak with red spot.

Comparison to Herring Gull on left:

More views:

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Now back to Great Black-backed Gull @ same date/location (hint – it has a black back):

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Bonus beautiful Ring-billed Gulls:

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Finally, even if birds aren’t government drones, clearly this gull is trained for tactical operations:

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[Editor’s note: “clearly” should be in quotes. Please revise before publishing.]

Generally bad weather (rainy, snowy, cold, windy, cloudy) the last few days in Erie County, PA; difficult birding conditions & reduced bird activity generally. As such, good a time as any for more Arizona content, back at Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, AZ, in August.

First up, a Western Kingbird perched on a fence, roadside, at the nearby water processing plant. Relative to Tropical Kingbird = white side tail feathers (not well shown in these shots) + yellow doesn’t extend as far up on the chest:

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Probably Willow Flycatcher:

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Two of lovely Common Gallinule:

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And two of probably female Broad-billed Hummingbird:

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A great aspect of Sweetwater is the numerous mesquite and other trees = good chance to see raptors at eye level, like this amazing Cooper’s Hawk:

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Probably Tropical Kingbird:

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Recent fun shots of birds + “human stuff,” Presque Isle State Park and close vicinity.

After a lovely Saturday for the Christmas Bird Count, rained all day Sunday in Erie County, PA; on-and-off moderate rain continues into Monday morning, with a winter storm warning in effect for Monday evening/night.

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Waterfowl migration is in full swing at/around Presque Isle State Park, so time to check in (again) on the ducks. Lake Erie remains ice-free = many ducks regularly seen far out of the lake. These long-distance shots generally N/NW from Beach Nos. 3/4 area, probably mostly Scaup (greater/lesser) and Merganser:

See below for sample duck count analysis.

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Several of Red-breasted Merganser @ Lake Erie breakwater:

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Ruddy Duck pictures above (at Beach No. 11) are from a Sunday, hence no duck hunters. Otherwise flocks of ducks wouldn’t be seen this close to shore at this location this time of year; Thompson Bay (inc. Beach No. 11) = popular for duck hunting. (The Bufflehead was startled by someone arriving to beach fish.)

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While many American Black Duck look quite Mallard-like, the following on Niagara Pond are nicely dark/black-ish:

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Back to “ducks on the lake”/duck counting on Lake Erie. Recent eBird reports indicate regular passings of multiple species of ducks in the tens-of-thousands per “counting period” (e.g., a person counting for a given period of time). Following is one example of the magnitude; shots taken recently off Sunset Point/Budny Beach area, probably mostly Scaup:

Crop/detail from that same shot:

In the first shot above, software analysis = 2974 ducks +/- 100. So figure 3000 ducks in that one shot alone. “Squiggle trace” view showing counted duck locations:

Dateline: 16 December 2023

Overall a nice day at Presque Isle State Park for the Great Christmas Bird Count. Too cloudy/dark for ideal photography, but mild/dry and plenty of birds to be counted. Great to see the ‘regulars’ (“One Ring-billed Gull, two Ring-billed Gulls, three Ring-billed Gulls, …”), but also fun to encounter something exotic, like here on Lake Erie near Beach 4:

And…, it’s a loose decoy calmly floating by real ducks, nowhere near any duck hunters. Ack. Move “1” from the ‘bird count’ column to the ‘birding fail’ column.

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Soon thereafter at that same location, nothing better than incoming/landing waterfowl. Here, poorly lit but fun shots of (mostly) Red-breasted Merganser:

It’s a quick mashup of “pictures including one Ring-billed Gull in focus and another in bokeh” x Bufflehead (female) in flight. All recent (December) shots from at/near Presque Isle State Park.

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Saturday, 16 December 2023, is Presque Isle Audubon’s designated day for the Erie County Great Christmas Bird Count. Any folks interested in participating in the Presque Isle State Park count should convene at Shelter #2 @ 8:00AM. Always a great event, + bonus: supposed to be sunny and mild with a high around 10 deg C! (50 deg f.)

Helpful hint – watch out for ‘gull duty:’

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