Several groups of birders were out on the Niagara River today (Saturday 11/28), and turned up 10 species (as of late afternoon) from the Falls area down towards the power plants. >From the Adam Beck overlook, ad. LESSER BLACK-BACKED, 4-5 ICELAND, 1-2 ad.THAYER'S, and the continuing ad. NELSON'S GULL (Herring Gull x Glaucous Gull hybrid) were seen in the early morning. The adult Black-headed Gull that has sporadically been observed from this location was not seen throughout the day to my knowledge. One group also had an interesting "GLAUCOUS-WINGED-type" bird here that had a wing-tip pattern and dark eye of GWGU, but apparently the structure and lack of head-streaking was off, and at the very least the bird thought to be an impure Larus somethinorother???. Large numbers (several thousand) Bonaparte's Gulls were seen just upstream of the power plants in the vicinity of the "roosting rocks" and at the Whirlpool with an ad. LITTLE GULL, ad. ICELAND GULL, ad. LBB GULL, and juv./1st-basic GLAUCOUS with them at the Whirlpool. Jean Iron put everybody on a MERLIN which was perched in a large dead tree across from the cable car viewing platform on the south side of the Whirlpool. Large numbers of gulls were above the falls with 2 GLAUCOUS, 2-3 ICELAND, juv./1st-basic THAYER'S, 6-8 LESSER BLACK-BACKEDS, and an ad. HERRING GULL x LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL hybrid being seen from the overlook at the control gates. Dean DiTomasso picked up the 3rd-basic CALIFORNIA GULL across the river on the shelf just upstream from the 3 Sisters Islands near Goat Island. It turns out that this is the same bird that has been on the river since early October and has recently been frequenting the area around the power plants and roosting rocks on the Lower River, but also seems to irregularly turn up on the shelf just out from Goat Island. Large numbers of SCAUP along with about a dozen RING-NECKED DUCKS and 16 TUNDRA SWANS were also visible from the control gates looking upriver on the east (opposite) side of the control structure. Further downriver towards the Engineerium were close to a thousand Bonaparte's Gulls including a LEUCISTIC (nearly full white) BONAPARTE'S GULL, along with an ad. LITTLE GULL, and 2nd-basic LESSER BLACK-BACKED and ICELAND GULLS. An ad. PEREGRINE FALCON put on a nice show here as well, making several attempts at the swirling mass of Bonaparte's before diving into the gorge. Also a WINTER WREN was briefly heard chipping from the sparse vegetation near the concrete stairs/overlook around the gatehouse. Jim Pawlicki Amherst, NY _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
