Spotlight/E. Phoebe

Early spring spotlight on Eastern Phoebe. Regularly seeing this lovely bird at multiple locations in Erie County, PA, e.g., East Ave boat launch, Gull Point Trail, Shades Beach Park, etc.

Eastern Phoebe @ Shades Beach Park

Characteristic dark head; can appear very dark from a distance:

@ Thompson Circle swamp/pond

Smudgy gray on sides of breast, lightly yellow underbelly, & weak wing bars :

Static pictures don’t help, but characteristically wags tail up and down.

At Thompson Circle, this individual was ‘pond dipping:’ perched above pond, then dropping down to the water surface for hunting insects, etc.:

After successfully catching a water insect, flew off to the nearby shrubbery and out of sight:

Eastern Phoebe w/ snack
Another view of Phoebe at Shades Beach

Gulls @ Sunset

Beautiful day Friday (after noon-ish) in Erie County, PA, then hazy Saturday morning turning to rain this afternoon. (Generally chilly both days.) Lots of great bird sightings to report, but while waiting on photo editing, here’s Ring-billed Gulls at the Liberty Park marina area (Erie, PA), just before sunset the other evening:

Re-purposed some ‘subject out of frame‘ shots for artistic/abstract effect:

1/Blackbird

Some nice shots of a lovely Red-winged Blackbird (male) exhibiting preening behavior + lots of shaking/flapping. Presque Isle State Park, Erie, PA.

[Photo Editor’s note: tough to capture both black feather detail + ‘stop motion.’ These shots mostly @ 1/2500 sec in spot metering mode + exposure compensation +0.3-+0.7, + auto adjustment in Adobe Lightroom then manual contrast adjustment.]

PI Bird Alert

Outer Thompson Bay @ Beach No. 11 view towards Gull Point

We interrupt our normally scheduled “squirrels eating pine cones” coverage for a PI Bird Alert. … Gorgeous afternoon yesterday at Presque Isle State Park, cold but mostly sunny. (Of note: lots of duck activity including Wood Ducks, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, etc.) Spotted on outer Thompson Bay by Beach No. 11, an unusually large number of amazing Surf Scoter. (Based on BirdingPI.com’s experience, ‘unusually large’ = more than one.) In this case, at least 20+ including both male & female:

Surf Scoter

More Surf Scoter:

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Group dive

More pictures of this amazing duck coming ASAP!

@ Asbury, Late Winter

Part II of late-winter birds at Asbury Woods last weekend, Millcreek Twp, PA (“Gateway to Presque Isle”), under mostly overcast/light snow conditions:

Black-capped Chickadee @ snow
Brown Creeper
American Crow w/ nesting material
Well camouflaged
White-breasted Nuthatch
More American Crow
Creepin’
Northern Cardinal (m)
American Robin
More Creeper
More Cardinal
Song Sparrow I
More Nuthatch I
Song Sparrow II
w/ food
Black-capped Chickadee
More Nuthatch II
Downy Woodpecker
Mid-hop
Woodpecker underview
More Nuthatch III
More Brown Creeper
Taking flight
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Final Nuthatch

Coming up next time, cute squirrels eating pine cones!

The Great Hawk Post

Finally, Red-tailed Hawk content, and lots of it! All from Erie County, PA.

Probably a breeding pair (see further below):

A pair of beautiful Red-tailed Hawks apparently engaging in mating behavior:

This pair also seen gathering nesting material (nest location unknown); hopefully plenty of hawk chicks on the way for later in the spring!

Carrying nesting material
Sunset view

More hawk @ sunset:

Erie weather: very cold/overcast Friday; forecast calls for rain/snow overnight with partially clearing skies Saturday, then sunny but cold on Sunday. (Warmer temps expected mid-week next week.) Happy birding/nature!