Today on BirdingPI.com, it’s several birds at South Pier, Erie, Pennsylvania, featuring an American Kestrel flying towards North Pier @ Presque Isle State Park:
Also female or immature Red-breasted Merganser in channel swell/surf:
These are really long distance shots of small birds, but this is where it gets interesting, when a Barn Swallow makes an appearance:
At this point, the Barn Swallow proceeded to repeatedly swoop and dive, harassing the Kestrel with very close approaches. The Kestrel would occasionally duck or adjust position slightly, but overall didn’t seem too concerned. We’ve seen American Crow and Red-winged Blackbirds harassing nearby raptors, but never a Barn Swallow. Fascinating.
Weather today (so far) in Erie County: chilly, foggy, wet. Happy nature!
Loved the merganser shots with the surf ‘frozen’ by the speed of the camera.
Looks like the barn swallow just wanted to say ‘hello’ to the kestrel!
Plus it’s good to see the P.I. Rangers cracking down on fast birds!
Everyone is riled up with nesting season. Plus no one likes predatory birds, especially other birds.
A ‘little birdie’ told us that this is ‘someone’s’ :”bird day”…
(chuckle)