Weekend weather in Erie County, Pennsylvania – warm, very windy, on/off thunderstorms/rain, turning much colder Sunday night with light snow overnight and snow on the grass Monday morning. (Not done with winter quite yet.) Bird activity as generally expected – ducks and other waterfowl, uptick in Turkey Vulture and Wild Turkey activity, plenty of Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, etc., + the local return of species like Common Grackle and Brown Creeper. Here, featuring a St. Patrick’s Day-appropriate male Mallard exhibiting preening/bathing behavior off Leo’s Landing @ Presque Isle State Park:
Seemingly rather abruptly, outer Lake Erie’s now mostly fully unfrozen, except for residual ice/ice dunes along the beach, e.g., as here near Stull Interpretive Center:
Wow! What fantastic photos of the mallard! So pretty, and all it was doing was having a bath!
Helps the sun came out for a bit! Love the color in the sun.