Back to a week ago Saturday at outer Gull Point, Presque Isle State Park, fairly quiet except for beautiful 3x American Tree Sparrow and 1x Peregrine Falcon:

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Turned cold again yesterday in Erie County, Pennsylvania, with a couple inches of snow overnight last night and this morning. Conditions at Presque Isle seemed very muted in terms of “not gull, not waterfowl” activity, but quite active for both those (gulls, ducks, and swans). More on this later, including our first sighting/pictures this year of beautiful Hooded Merganser!

After a week or so of “warm weather” in Erie County, PA, the snow has mostly melted, South Pier/North Pier is unfrozen, and even portions of outer Lake Erie appeared to be in ‘thaw mode.’ Weather today: cold w/ a dusting of snow/frozen rain overnight. Of course. Still winter in Erie.

In today’s post, the “big bird news” (literally, these are pretty big birds) this week was a flock of seven Mute Swans seen at various locations around Erie bayfront, including here near the head of Presque Isle Bay.

More shots of Mute Swan:

Nearby, a flock of equally beautiful Tundra Swan:

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More Mute Swan:

Mute Swan ID (adult): large, white swan with orange bill w/ distinctive knob at base. Here’s a good view of both ‘head on’ and side profile:

As noted in a previous post, 7 Mute Swans is a high count for Erie, perhaps a record. Usually only singles or pairs are spotted.

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Just a quick post today of ducks, mostly in flight, at South Pier, Erie, PA:

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Big bird news this week in Erie County, PA was the surprise/unusual sighting of a flock of seven Mute Swan – according to ‘those in the know,’ perhaps an Erie high count record. More on that later this week. Today, it’s back to sunny birds at Asbury Woods, featuring Eastern Bluebird + Dark-eyed Junco, in alternating order:

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Today on BirdingPI.com, it’s beautiful winter waterfowl in Erie County, Pennsylvania, recently seen at South Pier, featuring female/immature Common Goldeneye:

Also male (left) and female (right) Mallards:

Unusually, the water was clear enough and the lighting correct for seeing underwater duck feet in action.

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More birds from a sunny Sunday afternoon at Asbury Woods, featuring Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and male Downy Woodpecker:

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With warmer temps and sunny skies, yesterday (Sunday) was actually a nice day in Erie County, Pennsylvania. What better way to enjoy the outdoors than birding at Asbury Woods Nature Center in Millcreek Twp (“Since 1800”)? Especially considering plenty of amazingly beautiful Eastern Bluebird activity:

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Coming up soon, woodpeckers pecking on wood!

If birding the greater Erie, Pennsylvania bayfront area this time of year, likely to see many beautiful Red-breasted Mergansers, like these mostly males at South Pier:

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No post yesterday on BirdingPI.com due to bird counting for the Great Backyard Bird Count. (Important to make sure the population is tallied correctly ahead of U.S. mid-term elections later this year.) Should be ok weather this weekend in Erie County, Pennsylvania, including above-freezing air temps, so wishing everyone happy counting!

Today’s digital photographs are from South Pier the other early, cold morning, mostly looking east towards outer Lake Erie/Thompson Bay, featuring Surf Scoter and a great, if poorly lit, pair of Common Ravens:

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Here’s a sequence of long-distance shots of a Bald Eagle approaching outer Gull Point:

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In Erie County, PA “birding news of interest,” pockets of open water appeared once again around the North Pier/South Pier area this week, after a recent “near 100%” freeze-over due to cold temps. Open water = greatly increased seasonal waterfowl activity, including reported sightings yesterday/today of Surf Scoter and, early this morning, this rather unusual what’s probably a Hooded Merganser x Common Goldeneye hybrid:

ID: looks like a male Hooded Merganser but without any white on the head/’hood.’ Who knew?

[Editor’s note: somewhere in the metaverse, Netflix has greenlit development of A Duck Tail of Forbidden Love…]

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More from South Pier later. Here’s BIF, etc. from 1 February 2026 at Presque Isle Marina:

And finally, lots and lots of Common Merganser in flight:

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