More dead fish! More Great Black-backed Gull! More fun!
Erie, PA weather forecast calls for cool temps and mixed sun/clouds over the weekend. Looks like ok conditions for winter birding! Wishing everyone a nice weekend. #more_bird!
Beautiful morning Wednesday in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). Sunny, w/ temps maybe around 4 deg C, no snow = lots of non-gull/waterfowl/GBH bird activity.
Plenty of European Starling out and about:
Beautiful male House Finch:
Bonus House Finch video:
This is at a long distance through a screen of trees/branches = bad photos, but doesn’t matter – still an amazing Cooper’s Hawk! First BirdingPI.com sighting in 2023 and a happy occurrence generally. ID tip: note the red eyes, and very dark top-of-head that confers a capped look.
Would have been very hard to spot in this location at this distance, but this bird had been in flight just previously – and clearly too small to be a Red-tailed Hawk.
Wrapping it up with White-breasted Nuthatch!
Coming up soon, Eastern Bluebird from this same morning, plus Coots at lunch, plus more gull, plus more GBH! Also ducks! #more_bird!
GBH together with Ring-billed Gull on an icy Long Pond!?! Poor lighting conditions/exposure aside, it’s still BirdingPI.com gold. All shots 5 February 2023, Presque Isle State Park.
Coming up soon, a special, sunny break from wintery coverage of gulls, GBH, and ducks! Featuring a ‘guest appearance’ from an amazing, if distant, Cooper’s Hawk! Hello!
For BirdingPI.com, it appears “something unexpected” includes reasonably good photography of gulls fighting over dead fish (?)
All shots Great Black-backed Gull @ Presque Isle State Park, Beach No. 11 looking (generally) towards Gull Point. (Shot immediately below: + Tundra Swan.)
Bonus video of mixed gulls:
Dateline: 4-5 February 2023
Despite cancelling Saturday BirdingPI.com field operations for safety reasons (excessive cold), it’s another epic-ish weekend update!
Weather Saturday: very cold/windy. Sunny in the morning, transitioning to lake effect overcast, transitioning back to hazy sun. Shot above – looking north, with lake effect clouds moving in from the west/northwest. Shot below: high clouds to the south.
Wintery Erie denizens:
Sunday, partially overcast turning to very overcast, but warmer; windchill still somewhat brutal in exposed spots (e.g., Perry Monument). Lots of duck, other waterfowl, GBH, and gull activity. Skipping over Long Pond and Presque Isle Bay for now, starting with North Pier and then Thompson Bay.
Following shot, view west from North Pier w/ slightly frozen back bay (Presque Isle Bay). Hard to tell the details due to backlit exposure, but Canada Goose, American Coot, Mallard, and Redhead:
A Double-crested Cormorant drying off in the cold wind, on South Pier:
Meanwhile, over at Thompson Bay, an unfrozen spot = ducks. Scaups, Redhead, Canvasback, Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Gadwall, etc.
Bonus duck video:
Tundra Swan + guano:
Foreground: Tundra Swan; background left: juvenile Bald Eagle:
Presque Isle State Park trail conditions: mostly good with minimal snow and some frozen/icy patches; localized flooding depending on location and weather conditions.
Duck ID tip:
Next time: there will be gulls!
Lots of great bird activity at Presque Isle State Park yesterday – ducks, geese, swans, GBH, gulls, etc.! While waiting for editorial review, here’s more Ringed-bill Gull @ Marina Lake from the other Saturday:
From a couple recent, rare sunny evenings, a few ‘pleasant but not great’ Red-tailed Hawk at sunset shots:
From the next day, nicer telephoto sunset/clouds:
Back to day 1, two of the moon:
The full moon, a few nights later:
Partially sunny and warmer today, hopefully good enough conditions for finally getting back out to Presque Isle.
Yesterday (Friday, 3 February 2023) in Erie, PA: very cold, windy, snow. Today (Saturday): cloudy and very cold at -7 deg C approx. As we descend into the arctic vortex, posting some recent shots from Presque Isle State Park when conditions were nicer.
Gulls and Tundra Swan off Leo’s Landing/Feather Platform area:
Looking NE towards the exit to Presque Isle Bay; Coast Guard Station is on left, South Pier is on right:
Peaceful gull and swan video:
Startled ducks over Thompson Bay:
Why the ducks were startled #noisy_helicopter:
From Beach 11, view north-ish of Gull Point, observation platform, and Lake Erie:
The “pointy part” of Gull Point:
BirdingPI.com weekend operations on temp weather hold; “fingers crossed” for warmer temps.
Dateline: 28 January 2023
Cloudy start last Saturday morning; moderate gull, waterfowl, and crow activity on the west end of Long Pond, Presque Isle State Park.
Unusually, lake level is low enough for a substantial beach on the northeast side of Marina Lake:
Currently possible to easily walk all the way to the mouth of Duck Pond. Following view is looking N/NW towards Lake Erie. Red automobile to the right of center = main park road:
Around the corner from the spot above is the entrance to the Long Pond complex – shown in shot below. Bridge @ below center/middle in the following shot = main park road:
Possibly a female Lesser Scaup (peaked head/flat back of neck):
Meanwhile, “news of the amazing” on the other (east) end of Long Pond, with an unusually large group of perhaps two dozen Great Blue Heron. Unfortunately, the ducks spooked (perhaps due to BirdingPI.com personnel, perhaps due the nearby Bald Eagle – see below), which caused the GBH to spook. Unable to sufficiently capture this through the trees, but a few subsequent shots nevertheless:
Eight GBH in the following shot:
Seven GBH in this shot:
Bald Eagle in the distance:
Near Long Pond, Presque Isle State Park, a crow in a tree. Eating a fish. Could be an American Crow or a Fish Crow, no way of knowing in this context.
Fair number of dead minnows on the nearby beach, perhaps due to changing cold/warm spells (?) Presumably this was a scavenged sashimi snack.
