Spent most of Friday at Dunkirk Harbor hoping to see some Shorebirds & migration action.
Stayed most of the morning at the east end of Wright Beach, here
EAST END SAND CUT
WRIGHT BEACH at GREAT LAKE ERIE
... at this cut in the sand, made from overflow from a water treatment plant on shore
The weather was changeable, with some sun & blue sky, some steely grey sky & water, some overcast, a light drizzle rainfall.
Mixed in with the usual Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, & Great Black-backed Gulls on the shoreline, are a few Caspian Terns, and a few Semi-palmated Plovers, Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, 1 Western Sandpiper (scarce), Killdeer, and 1 Bairds Sandpiper (scarce)
The lake here is surprisingly shallow & you can walk out hundreds of feet into the lake without getting your head wet.
The sand is soft & rock free and, since this is a beach, is groomed daily in season.
What looks like snow on the beach is actually thousands & thousands of tiny crustacean shells, crushed & groundup by the waves and washed ashore by the surf.
The Great Lakes, including Lake Erie, are considered to be "inland freshwater seas" and, as such, are large enough bodies of water to have regular tide cycles.
The near shore lakebed is sandy, unlike many of our WNY areas that are plate shale rock beds that are slippery to walk on, break easily and are sharp-edged.
Highlight of the day at this spot was flyovers by 8 Bald Eagles!
Since the date was September 11, I felt it was especially inspiring to see so many Bald Eagles, our nation's symbol, on the World Trade Center destruction anniversary.
7 juvie Bald Eagles plus 1 adult Bald Eagle.
I missed a 2nd adult Baldie that flew thru low, carrying a fish in its talons, darnit.
4 of the juvie Bald Eagles were all flying together, 2 high above and another 2 directly below them. A 5th juvie flew low, solo, west-to-east. And later, a pair of juvie Bald Eagles flying together, at mid-height.
Juvenile BALD EAGLE on 9/11/09
The adult Bald Eagle was flying west-to-east, very low over the water, fishing. But unfortunatley, it did not spot a fish to dive down upon and so continued on its way.
The water at this southeast end of Great Lake Erie is very clear, about the only advantage of the ongoing Lake Erie Zebra Mussel infestation.
There are so many Zebra Mussels that, by their feeding actions, they filter the water.
The most often heard explanation for the Zebra Mussels arrival in the US Great Lakes is that they were carried here in the ballast tanks of European sea vessels.
MIDWAY SAND CUT
Another good spot for shorebird watching, walking west, at Wright Beach is this midway sand cut made from overflow, under road drainage than empties into Lake Erie.
This is a combination sandy beach & mudflats
This is my favorite place to park & just sit in one place and let the birds come to me.
If there are rarities around, enough birders will be walking around at the ends of the beach, near and on the cliffs & breakwalls, that they will chase the birds down to me at the center anyways, so ez birding for me with all the comfys of home sweet car.
See that shadow in lower-right corner of photo "Midway Sand Cut" ?
That is from the roadside/walkway railing and shows you how close you can drive, or walk, right up to the lake along here. You can park your vehicle at this railing & just sit 'n watch the water & listen to the surf & Gulls.
One of the most common Shorebirds to see here is Lesser Yellowlegs
Highlight of the day at this spot was a lone Black-bellied Plover that was at the harbor, in the muck, when I got there (at this spot) & was still there when I left 6 hours later
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER
BUT that same Midway Sand Cut railing is NOT such a hot place to park in the winter!
Ice has obscured most of the railing, all of the sidewalk, all of the bike path, and parts of the paved road lanes running alongside the lakeshore.
This happens every winter & sometimes the ice even pushes further ashore, damaging lawns and homes and vehicles in its path. Sometimes large chunks of paved road are washed away. But the residents realize that can be part of the price to be paid for living near big water. Ice tearing up the road paving & sidewalks is just an annual assumption.
Notice something odd ?
In the wintertime photos of Lake Erie, this harbor is openwater all winter, even with all that cold & ice all around it.
That's because of hot water discharge into the lake from an electric power generating plant located in the harbor. One of the few coal burning power plants left in NY State.
BTW my car is a PT Cruiser Woodie I named "Creampuff", and it is just ideal for hobbies, including birdwatching.
Plenty of space to stow gear out of sight and several places, front & back, to plug in electronics & gadgets.
Cruiser rear seats are raised a la theater seating, so if you have birding-buddies with you, they get a better view.
Cruisers have a rear hatch shelf that pulls out to use as a tabletop, plus more storage underneath, so can handle plenty of spotting scopes and tripods, binoculars, books, field guides, laptops, gadgets, food & drink..
... and bird right out of your car.
Here's a pic of my Lil' Creampuff ...
Another highlight of the Wright Beach, east end, was a flyover by a lone Osprey.
Had enough time to snap 1 quickee pic which isn't great but, since the only Osprey all day, I'll post it anyways ...
OSPREY
Moving along to the west, at the Main Street Beach at the west end of Wright Beach ...
MAIN ST. BEACH
This area of the beach is more of a sand dune habitat ...
The highlights from this habitat were 6 Turkey Vultures on the sandy beach.
Several were juveniles, their faces not yet the bright red with white nosetip of the adult Turkey Vultures
One Turkey Vulture juvenile in particular caught my attention and after studying its photo, I decided it had some plastic litter or fishline wrapped around the top of its head.... or else it was wearing a "' 'do rag"
Poor thing will probably have some difficulties as its skull grows while banded with that garbage.
Juvie TURKEY VULTURE
Adult TURKEY VULTURE Adult Turkey Vulture on the beach with a dead (REALLY dead P.U.!!) fish
TURKEY VULTURE
in the air
Turkey Vulture wing detail
TURKEY VULTURE
Turkey Vulture ready to perch in a dead tree on shore.
Seemed an oddity to find a lone Sharp-shinned Hawk on the beach. To me they are woodland living and birdfeeder meal-stalking accipiters, not beach hawks.
But here is my pic of a Sharp-shinned Hawk staring out over the water on the beach to prove otherwise ...
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK on LAKE ERIE BEACH
Also a good chance to study that sturdy ridge of bone over the hawk's eyes, making the eyes appear deep set under the protective bone ridge.
That's how these fast flying, maneuvering on-the-fly hawks keep branches from injuring their eyes. I have witnessed them zipping & diving through trees on my property at breakneck speeds, as if they had hawk radar, after some meal-bird they have spotted
Also at this end of the beach were several Caspian Terns, including a juvenile Caspian Tern which still had the juvie smaller & lighter colored bill & legs. Little guy was still food begging but it did no good as the adults just ignored him.
2 CASPIAN TERNS
The adult Caspian Tern is shown above the juvie Caspian Tern in the pic.
Notice how the juvie C.Tern has a smaller, less developed and lighter colored bill than the adult Caspian Tern.
And the juvie Caspian Tern's legs are a greyish-yelllow color, while the adult C.Tern's legs are black colored.
Also the adult C.Tern has a blacker head cap than the juvie's, which is still more grey than black.
At the far end of this habitat, where sand meets muck at the rock breakwall, were 2 Ruddy Turnstones.
Unfortunately I did not get a chance for any photos of them and had just quick glances as they momentarily topped a sand dune.
The usual assortment of Gulls was present all day, numbering in the many hundreds, if not thousands, of noisy, swirling about gulls....
Mainly they were Ring-billed Gulls. With the usual assortment of Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Caspian Terns, a Forsters Tern, and assorted Peeps onshore.
Nothing too out of the ordinary...
Except for this ...
CIGAR SMOKING GULL
A bird surprise was a flyover, a flight calling American Pipit. A surprise because it was a bit early in the season to see one at this WNY location.
Behind the brand-spanking-new Tim Horton's (YAY!) at the harbor, there is a breakwall protected small boat harbor that includes some areas of wetlands, mudflats, sand dunes, reeds & cat tails, as well as the breakwall & marina floating docks ...
Almost always, you can find Herons and Kingfishers here
BELTED KINGFISHER 
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The smallest pond has a picnic area and a covered bridge & many wedding parties, prom couples, and school graduations have had "official" pictures taken there.
A MUSCOVY DUCK who lived in the small pond near the covered bridge
WINTERS PONDS
CANADA GOOSE
GREAT-BLUE HERON
tired
listless
rejuvenated
contemplative
bouncy