Dateline: 10 December 2021
Taking advantage of the brief spell of good weather before the big storm, BirdingPI.com dispatched a team to Presque Isle State Park for an hour or two on Friday, pre-sunset. Relatively light avian activity, but conditions were pleasant and mild – a good afternoon to be outdoors, even if only briefly.
After driving past these Buffleheads initially, pulled a quick (ahem, illegal) U-turn to backtrack to approximately where the light and birds might align nicely. Timing is everything.
If you’re wondering about the ID, enlarging/cropping any of these pictures plus cranking up the brightness to max clearly shows Bufflehead markings, e.g., white cheek patches, and ‘wrap around’ white on the heads of males. Also diving behavior, and later shots against a different background:
