Taking a break from the gull coverage with recent shots of a male Downy Woodpecker along the access trail to boat landing #4, Long Pond, Presque Isle State Park.
Overcast, cold, and snowy in the greater Erie, PA area since Tuesday; looks like it will continue into next week. Wishing everyone a nice weekend! #more_gull #more_waterfowl
Ring-billed Gull @ Marina Lake, from last Saturday:
More Great Black-backed Gull and gull friends from the other Saturday, Presque Isle State Park, Beach 11.
Great Black-backed Gull adults on the right:
Mixed gulls – Great Black-backed Gull right rear (adult and juvenile), Ring-billed Gull front corner right, the others include Herring Gull:
Mixed gulls – good size comparison between GB-bG (center) and Ring-billed Gull (center foreground):
Large gull on left – Great Black-backed Gull juvenile, 1st/2nd winter:
More GB-bG:
In flight, lower right:
Bonus video content!
Good news! More GB-bG content to come from this past weekend, including ‘gull sounds’ and carrion scavenging! Wow.
Dateline: 21-22 January 2023.
Bad weather in the Erie, PA area this weekend – overcast with periodic light frozen rain/hail on Saturday, light/moderate but substantial snow starting 12 noon on Sunday. Still, plenty of interesting avian activity at Presque Isle State Park; BirdingPI.com personnel deployed as usual for bird photography. #hot_coffee #more_bird
Following shots from Saturday:
Below, Common Merganser over Presque Isle Bay. Hill in far distance (looking south) in upper right corner is the Waste Management “Lake View” dump.
Tundra Swan on Presque Isle Bay. Middle/left background: Ferncliff Beach; middle right: Erie Yacht Club.
Off Long Pond, an American Tree Sparrow:
Beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, in the trees on the inland side between Saw Mill and Short Jetty:
Moving on to Sunday. Ring-billed Gull in snow @ Marina Lake:
Canada Geese/Marina Lake/snow:
Thanks to a kindly birder passerby on Saturday, heard a rumour of an Iceland Gull at Presque Isle. Iceland Gull = very uncommon; like a Ring-billed Gull or Herring Gull but with white or gray wingtips. BirdingPI.com wishes everyone good luck in finding the Iceland Gull!
Gull ID tip: hopefully obvious, but in case not, wing tips in flight shown in top view below. Wing tips on land/water shown in lower view below (red arrows):
Coming up this week: more Great Black-backed Gull, including “amazing” video! Also more gull fishing! Plus Red-breasted Merganser, and Canada Goose vs. Bald Eagle (?)! #more_bird!
Overcast and cold weekend in the greater Erie area. Before getting back to gull coverage, time for a ‘ray of sunshine’ with these shots of Eastern Bluebird from last Monday near Pymatuning Reservoir:
Elsewhere, in Millcreek Twp (“Gateway to Presque Isle”):
Dateline: 14 January 2023
Finally delivering on the promised Great Black-backed Gull content from last Saturday, along with some “misc nature.”
Here’s our cute Pekin friend with accompanying Mallard ducks. Might recall this bird was spotted on Lake Erie off Budny Beach on Sunday – it gets around! (Or, there could be more than one.)
Great Black-backed Gulls. They’re big, they’re black (partially), they’re great!
Distant view, Lake Erie, mixed gulls on sandbar off Beach 11:
Front a distance, distinctive due to very dark (black) wings:
Several views, from further to closer:
Adult Great Black-backed Gull ID tips: (i) large size: compare the GB-bG adult center right to the Ring-billed Gull just off center left; (ii) very dark wings; (iii) white head, throat, and breast, yellow bill and red spot on lower bill; and (iv) pink-ish legs. (Lesser Black-backed Gull = gray wings and yellow legs.)
In the following crop, adult is center. Bird on the right probably a first- or second-winter Great Black-backed Gull. Note the size, dark bill, sort of mottled head/breast, and checkered black/gray wings. (More shots of this bird next time.) Bird on left could be juvenile Herring Gull.
An uncommon treat to get some reasonably nice shots of GB-bG in flight:
Currently having a spell of bad weather in Erie County – rain, more rain, mixed rain/snow, more rain, wind, overcast. Wishing everyone a nice weekend nevertheless! And in any event, coming up soon: more Great Black-backed Gull!
Dateline: 16 January 2023
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.
There’s always room for Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger):
Dateline: 15 January 2023
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.
Various shots of Bufflehead:
Back along the outer beach:
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.]