Lots of photos from last weekend at South Pier, Erie, PA, under cold/snowy/overcast conditions. Background with tents on ice = ice fishing on Misery Bay @ Presque Isle State Park.
Lots more Bald Eagle activity:
Several more of ducks in flight (mostly Redhead):
Normally a ‘cooperative’ bird at short range is a happy occasion, but not after standing around on South Pier in the extreme cold (e.g., wind chill) for 1/2 hour+. (So bad the camera equipment eventually stopped working.) Nevertheless, enough time for a few shots of this lovely American Tree Sparrow before completely losing feeling in the extremities:
Pictures from last week off East Ave boat launch, Erie, PA, under cold & snowy conditions:
Give a screech, clean a beach!
Finally posting some photos of Presque Isle State Park’s ‘resident’/famous/amazingly camouflaged Eastern Screech-Owl, in its burrow/nest just up from the west Fisher Drive bridge, in conjunction with the announcement of BirdingPI.com’s 2024 Presque Isle beach/Gull Point cleanup initiative.
Considering the current state of the Presque Isle beaches …
… details of the initiative will be forthcoming, say, sometime in June or July. Stay tuned!
[Editor’s note: “Give a screech, clean a beach.” Rolls right off the tongue.]
More winter fun, with American Crows engaging in carrion scavenging behavior in the snow @ South Pier, Erie, PA:
A very cold and snowy Saturday in Erie County, PA. Nevertheless, great content from Presque Isle State Park forthcoming, including a special guest owl! Meanwhile, here’s a recent, wintery PFIF (Peregrine Falcon in flight) @ South Pier:
Last Sunday, Presque Isle State Park remained closed at the main gate due to downed power lines, etc. Conditions: hazy/partial sunshine, extremely windy and amazingly cold (e.g., windchill @ -18 deg C). These shots looking mostly east/north from a very brief stop at “Beach Zero” (beach access before the park entrance) = much “photography staff suffering & complaining:”
A beautiful Great Black-backed Gull enjoying the wind:
More gulls also enjoying the wind and surf conditions, mostly Herring Gull:
More winter content from Presque Isle State Park, this past Monday morning under sunny but extremely cold conditions (e.g., -12 deg C). Great to catch a beautiful male Northern Cardinal in the open, x lovely Tundra Swans, + icicles. (ID tip: the Cardinal is red.)
With the recent bad/cold weather and ice forming on Presque Isle Bay, lots of duck/waterfowl activity on the lake around Presque Isle State Park: Gadwall, Mallard, American Black Duck, Redhead, Canvasback, Greater/Lesser Scaup, American Wigeon, Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Common Goldeneye, the Merganser ‘trio,’ Canada Geese, Tundra Swan, American Coot, etc., even a few tardy Green-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler. Lots of content to come, but the following shots alternate between (i) a beautiful male Common Merganser by South Pier & (ii) misc. duck:
Recent raptors in trees under overcast/wintry conditions, in Millcreek Twp, PA (“Gateway to Presque Isle”). First up, Red-tailed Hawk. Kind of hard to see, but exhibiting feeding behavior, namely, this beautiful bird was successful in hunting some sort of unlucky critter:
Alternating with probably lovely Cooper’s Hawk:
And a different Red-tailed Hawk perched treetop:
Coming up next, ducks!