Raptor Road Report

Dateline: 16 January 2023

American Kestrel

Checking in with BirdingPI.com’s occasional Crawford County contingent for a special report on recent raptor sightings, via the tried-and-true: (i) “drive along backcountry farm roads with an eye on power poles/power lines/trees;” (ii) “find a safe turnaround and backtrack as needed for repositioning your vehicle if the bird in question is overshot;” and (iii) “ID a lull in traffic for stopping in the road to take pictures out the window” method. (Not good for photography or road safety, but sometimes works. #more_bird)

Above and below, two different, beautiful American Kestrel (out of three spotted in the same area) approximately at the corner of Dicksonburg Rd. and Inlet Rd., west of Fatboy’s Saloon. (No affiliation.)

In that same area, a lovely Red-tailed Hawk:

Moving on, south of Linesville, PA near the Linesville Fish Hatchery, an amazing “hawk, but not a Red-tailed Hawk.” Take a look at the banded tail and ‘scaled’ back – perhaps a Red-shouldered Hawk. (Vs. other options like Broad-winged Hawk, which are unlikely to be in this area this time of year.)

Distant Bald Eagle in a tall tree, somewhere outside Conneautville:

Another amazing (!) American Kestrel (two spotted in this area), along Rundeltown Rd.:

Distant Red-tailed Hawk (x2) off Route 98 south of Crossingville:


American Kestrel for the win! Absolutely gorgeous.

Weekend Update/Sun II

Dateline: 15 January 2023

Bundy Beach looking west

Elsewhere at Presque Isle State Park on Sunday afternoon, it was BirdingPI.com’s “wandering around sort of near Gull Point” contingent. From Budny Beach (above) to the outer old trail to the back/south lakeshore of interior Gull Point then due north back to the outer beach/ “new trail.” Access note: lake level is low enough to easily/dryly walk along the entire south lakeshore from the outer old trail “turn” (from N/S to E/W at it’s closest approach to the lake on the south) to outer Gull Point. See red-marked trail with the star in following map excerpt:

Following shots mostly taken at/near the location marked by the red star above.

Interior Gull Point south lakeshore looking east
Downy Woodpecker
Further along, view east
Bufflehead ducks
Takeoff
Bufflehead in flight with gull (center) and Mallard ducks (right)
Common Goldeneye with outer Gull Point in background
Mallard ducks off Gull Point
Common Goldeneye
Ducks in flight off Gull Point (probably scaups)
Scaups over Gull Point
More ducks in flight
Approaching Gull Point
Ducks on approach
And away

Various shots of Bufflehead:


Back along the outer beach:

View east towards Gull Point
Ice shapes on beach I
Subsiding ice dune
Ice shapes on beach II

Trail note: due to periods of warm temps, outer beach edge mostly ice and ice dune free (see shots above) = hike to outer Gull point along the beach is relatively easy for this time of year.

[Editor’s note: Kaye C. Barker.]

Weekend Update/Sun I

Dateline: 15 January 2023

Gulls @ Presque Isle Bay, Erie bayfront in background

Out of (chronological) order for this BirdingPI.com weekend update, continuing to focus on sunny Sunday. Because sunlight = happy bird photographers. Tundra Swan and Bald Eagle were covered in the last two posts; bird activity: overall, excellent – only a few ‘land birds,’ but plenty otherwise (waterfowl, etc.)

Sunday, Presque Isle Bay frozen over (slightly/partially) just enough to support waterfowl. Here, looks like American Black Duck in the foreground and gulls in the background, from near Feather Platform:

Black Duck + gulls
Exodus of gulls
Splash of winter colour/Northern Cardinal
GBH on Long Pond
Song Sparrow near Long Pond
Canada Geese profile off East Pier

Following three shots of Canada Geese at Perry Monument, first foraging, then startled, then in flight:

Two of Herring Gull in flight. Thank you, lovely blue background.

H. Gull, I
H. Gull, II

Bad photo, but, just for ID purposes, off Budny Beach: Mallard in the foreground left; perhaps a juvenile merganser middle-ground, off center left; five ducks in the background are Common Goldeneye.

Waterfowl

Our Pekin friend and his Mallard lady friend (?) are back on the lake:

Pekin+

Misc. gull (species unknown) on Lake Erie:

Gull on lake

Sunday was so big, going to take four posts to cover it all. Weekend update part II tomorrow. Then, back to Greater Black-backed Gull (finally), Bald Eagle vs. Canada Goose (really, sort of), and American Kestrel, lots of them! Really.

Worried it’s “birding slow season” in PA? Worry no longer – BirdingPI.com is here to assuage your concerns via moderately intrepid nature reporting and mostly unobjectionable bird photography/videography content. #more_bird

Eagle Hunt

Dateline: 15 January 2023

Bald Eagle (juvenile)

Presque Isle State Park. Cold but sunny Sunday. Peacefully driving the BirdingPI.com van along the outer loop road by Misery Bay.

“Hot damn! It’s an eagle! Quick, pull over!” [*]

Execute the “two second don’t hit pedestrians or bicyclists” check before pulling over onto the shoulder/multi-use trail. Take shots out the window as best possible. Jump out (execute the “one second don’t get run over by passing car” check) and keep shooting.

Run 1:

Stay on target…
Abort!
Circle for another run

Run 2:

Like shooting womp rats
Stay on target
Eagle strike
Snatch & grab/detail
Lift/accelerate
Detail
Up and away I
Up and away II
Up and away III
Up and away IV
Fish lunch

From here, looked like it flew off to the tall trees along the Ridge Trail – known Bald Eagle “hang out” spot.

Doesn’t get much better than Bald Eagle/hunting. #nature


[Photo Editor’s note: tough conditions due to distance, lighting, etc. = not the best shots ever. Still, fun to see.]

[* Editor’s note: “Hot damn” appears to be a literary embellishment. Seems unlikely anyone says “hot damn.”]

Please Enjoy

Please enjoy peaceful Tundra Swan content from Sunday:

All content @ Presque Isle State Park, Erie County, PA. Taken near Feather Platform.

[Editor’s Note: shot above, background: looking east at entrance to Presque Isle Bay, with South Pier to the right and North Pier to the left.]

Misc Bird

With the BirdingPI.com team out scouring Presque Isle State Park this weekend for interesting wildlife (spoiler alert: Great Black-backed Gull!), only time for some recent, previously-unposted shots from Erie County, in the ‘grab bag’ category. #more_bird!

Dusk outline/Red-bellied Woodpecker

Common Merganser (f or immature male) over Presque Isle Bay:


House Sparrow @ a house

Ring-billed Gull vs. surf @ Budny Beach:


Funky exposure on some of these shots of European Starling at Presque Isle State Park by the ranger station:


Saturday weather: overcast with an occasional hint of blue sky; periodic, localized lake-effect snow; very cold in a damp/clingy way – lovely day at Presque Isle State Park, but unpleasantly cold. Reasonable gull and waterfowl activity, almost no ‘land bird’ activity. Sunday: looks like a sunny day as forecast!

Hawk Shots! Part Deux

The last BirdingPI.com “Hot Shots! Part Deux” reference was almost a year ago to the day. Must be a “January in Erie can’t get outside because it’s too cold” thing. Anyway, 10 cm of snow or thereabouts by Friday morning, light snow all day, back to seasonably cold temperatures. Saturday, no precipitation, overcast and very cold.

Here, some recent, ‘merely ok’ shots of Red-tailed Hawk in Erie County. Above: Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”); below: Presque Isle State Park by the Pine Tree Trail east trailhead and nearby swamp.


Supposed to be sunny and not as cold Sunday and Monday – fingers crossed for good bird photography weather!

Weekend Pre-update

Dateline: 7-12 January 2023

Running very late on the weekend update, so time for a ‘data dump’ of recent shots in Erie Country, in mostly overcast/dark conditions.

Dark-eyed Junco in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”)

Weather in Erie: cold and overcast over the weekend; unseasonably warm by mid-week, sunny on Tuesday and partially sunny on Wednesday; light rain Wednesday night tapering off by morning transitioning to heavier rain by afternoon. Currently under a winter weather advisory for snow on Friday.

Two shots of American Robin at State Game Lands 314, enjoying a snack of Staghorn Sumac:

Migrating geese, State Game Lands 314

Moving on to Presque Isle State Park, over several different days:

Tundra Swan on back bay/’hunkered down’

Several days later, that beautiful Barred Owl was back at the same perch by the corner of Canoe Portage Trail and Duck Pond Trail:

Rear view, distance
Rear feather detail
Front view I
Front view II

Couple shots of female Downy Woodpecker along Canoe Portage Trail:

American Tree Sparrow

Another view of the Barred Owl on the way back along the Canoe Portage Trail:

The owl it watching you

Tundra Swan on Presque Isle Bay, near the Long Pond Trail east trailhead:

Now with a view of the Bayfront Convention Center (right) and Sheraton Bayfront hotel (left), with downtown Erie in far background:

Sans duck hunters, a quiet day on Thompson Bay:

Thompson Bay view north towards Lake Erie

Reflection on Thompson Bay with Horned Grebe, Bufflehead, and some sort of merganser duck:

Tree reflection

Not a particularly good shot, but a gull and Red-breasted Merganser, off Budny Beach:

With all the recent rain, trail conditions generally wet and muddy where applicable/typical. Here, the B-Trail:

The B-Trail b flooded

Ice dunes and surf off the Presque Isle west-side beach:

View of gulls on the west end of North Pier, with Perry Monument in the background, taken from South Pier:

Wishing everyone a nice holiday (MLK Day) weekend!

Gullmania VI

First up, peaceful, reasonably ok shots of a Ring-billed Gull in the wind at Conneaut Beach:


Next up, fun shots of a Ring-billed Gull obtaining fish lunch, off South Pier, across from Presque Isle State Park:


Concluding with a bird ID note, BirdingPI.com’s been seeing isolated, dark-winged gulls on Lake Erie between Gull Point and the mainland (e.g., off East Ave boat ramp) for a while now. Finally got a couple closer shots to confirm this as Greater Black-backed Gull!

Note the relatively large size, dark wing color, stark white head/chest, and rounded bill: