Late this afternoon, Garth Riley refound the SLATY-BACKED GULL on the rocks a little ways above the falls on the Niagara River. Several of us made it to Garth's location opposite the barge on the Canadian side and looked downriver at the bird. Eventually it woke up, stretched a wing, and then flapped a couple of times, revealing the nice "string of pearls", which along with other features (broad tertial crescent, pink legs, mantle shade close to a Lesser Black-backed Gull, slightly stockier than Herring Gull) allowed us to identify it with confidence. This bird would likely have been visible from Goat Island, if one walked down toward the falls and found a good opening in the trees.
Unfortunately, fog ruined our Important Bird Area survey for the entire river today. And, wouldn't you know it, after it was cancelled, the sun came out in the afternoon! We made the most of the morning by going to the Dufferin Islands Nature Area in Niagara Falls, Ontario and seeing the continuing male and very drab female PINE WARBLERS that have been reported there for several weeks. They both came to different piles of seed thrown onto the ground by birders and photographers. Most of the IBA counters also enjoyed a nice pizza lunch together. Good birding! Willie D'Anna of Wilson, NY and Jean Iron of Toronto, Ontario ------------------ Willie D'Anna Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com My photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/107683885@N07/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
