Dateline: 20 February 2022
Conditions in Erie, Pennsylvania Sunday were less than ideal, but far better than Saturday – very cold and windy in the morning, but sunny and relatively warm (highs in the 40’s deg F) in the afternoon. Very windy all day, however, depending on location.
First up – Millcreek Twp. New sightings included European Starling (multiple birds), a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (1 individual), and several Rock Pigeons (i.e., common Pigeons) down by the west-side Lowe’s. That brings the current Millcreek Twp. count to 13 species!
With the weather slightly cooperative, it was time to head up to Presque Isle State Park for an hour or two of quality time for GBBC weekend. The itinerary included a stop at Duck Pond, parking at Budny Beach for a hike out to Gull Point, and stopping at the Perry Monument area for duck activity on the back bay. Conditions: patchy standing water and/or ice on the roads; patchy snow and ice on the trails, highly localized in terms of the amount of snow/ice. Easy enough to get around generally.
Here are some very long shots of Duck Pond. Species identified: GBH; Ring-necked Duck; Redhead; Mallard; Bufflehead; and Scaup (of one sort or the other).
While parked at the side of the road by Duck Pond, suddenly a Bald Eagle flew overhead. (No one expects the Bald Eagle!) Yay!
Looks like this individual was transitioning from juvenile to adult plumage.
Someone decided it was a good idea to hike out to Gull Point, so off to Budny Beach. Trail conditions: a few icy patches (caution required), but generally good. Weather conditions: unseasonably warm but very windy; sunny. Lake Erie mostly unfrozen except for near the shore.
Spotted a Northern Cardinal at the Budny Beach parking area. Also a few ducks on the lake (see above), but otherwise minimal activity except for a few gulls and a surprising amount of Crow activity – at one point, 17 crows were spotted flying out to the ice and then back inland again. As seen in the following picture (bird on the right with fish), they may have been scavenging for fish:
Not a lot of activity a Gull Point, but a nice day for a hike!
The east end of the back bay (e.g., between North Pier and South Pier) remains unfrozen, so there was significant bird activity as seen from Perry Monument – GBH, ducks, and gulls. Conditions were extremely windy, however = hard to stand upright, let along keep the camera steady.
With that, time for the species tally:
- GBH
- Mallard
- Ring-necked Duck
- Common Merganser
- Northern Cardinal
- Crow
- Ring-billed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Canvasback
- Common Goldeneye
- Redhead
- American Widgeon
- Bald Eagle
- Bufflehead
- Scaup (species?)
Excluding the Scaups, that’s a total of 14. Pretty good for mid-winter!
Next up, bringing it on home with GBBC Day 4, or, “A winter day in which the weather in Erie is actually nice.”