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.
Dateline: 28 January 2023
From this past Saturday, a BirdingPI.com winter resident favorite – several Tufted Titmouse individuals along the Ridge and Sidewalk Trails, Presque Isle State Park. Maybe it’s Tufted Titmice? Tufted Titmouses?
Dateline: 29 January 2023
Rainy Sunday in the greater Erie, PA area. With the patchy snow, American Robin and European Starling were out in force.
Bad weather for photography has never stopped BirdingPI.com before. All shots Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”).
Taking advantage of rose hips on wintry multiflora rose:
Couple of European Starling:
Dateline: 28-29 January 2023.
Saturday: overcast and quite cold in the morning, clearing to mostly sunny by the afternoon, then rain overnight; report to follow. Sunday: rain; all BirdingPI.com Presque Isle State Park operations cancelled. Local, gloomy Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”) content to follow, but first up, spying on a Fox Squirrel in the rain:
BirdingPI.com – like watching water drip:
From earlier in January, a lone Red-breasted Merganser (m) on Presque Isle Bay. Overcast and somewhat backlit = erratic exposure, but still fun to see this bird on the back bay. (More often seen out on Lake Erie proper.)
Probably BirdingPI.com’s last major coverage of Great Black-backed Gull for the season, absent the unexpected. First up, random gulls!
Gloom/overcast notwithstanding, pretty cool video featuring noisy GB-bG – both adult and juvenile (1st/2nd winter):
Bonus video:
It’s “bonus bad goose video” Friday! Wow.