Kevin McLaughlin and I birded the Niagara River today. Best gull was a juvenile Thayer's Gull seen from the Adam Beck lookout, which is along the Niagara Parkway south of the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. There we also saw 2 adult and 2 juvenile Kumlien's Iceland Gulls and 2 adult and 2 juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
Above the Falls we saw two hybrid gulls on the weirs just north of the control gates at Chippawa: an adult Herring x Great Black-backed Gull and an adult Herring x Glaucous Gull. Both of these hybrids are seen regularly most years at Niagara. There were hundreds of Bonaparte's Gulls on the river off Queenston but we couldn't find a Little Gull with them. Minnows are abundant in the river. The next cold front should bring many more gulls to the river as we enter prime gull viewing season at Niagara. See OFO's Gull Watching Guide for an annotated list of gulls in Ontario. www.ofo.ca/reportsandarticles/gulls.php Ron Pittaway Minden ON P.S. Jean wasn't with us because she's leading a tour in French Polynesia. _______________________________________________ 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/
