Hi All, The last Snowy Owl was precisely here (green arrow):
https://maps.google.com/?q=42.870325,-76.853056&t=p&z=13 Thanks to Kevin for leading a great trip! Benjamin Van Doren On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 10:38 PM, Kevin J. McGowan <[email protected]> wrote: > The very successful Cayuga Bird Club field trip to Niagara Falls today > started and ended notably with owls in the Basin. > > Just after dawn at 7:00 am, we passed through King Ferry going north on > 90, and I remarked that we were entering one of the best areas in the Basin > for Short-eared Owls. Sure enough, just as we passed Lake Road (that heads > to Long Point) we had 2 or maybe 3 in the field to the west. We pulled > into the driveway just before the bistro and hopped out to get great views > as they flew around, foraged, and then harassed an early rising Northern > Harrier. > > The Niagara River and gorge was good, although gull numbers seemed down to > me. We dipped on Lark Sparrow in Ft. Erie, but did get an unexpected young > male King Eider that eventually joined some mallards and mergansers loafing > on shore. The falls area produced a young Glaucous Gull, one or two young > Black-legged Kittiwakes, an Iceland Gull, a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls, > and two probable Lesser Bb x Herring hybrids. No Red Phalarope or Purple > Sandpiper. The powerplants offered a large number of Iceland Gulls (10 > minimum), and we found a single adult Little Gull at the Queenston boat > launch. A relatively quick customs stop (surprising because we had a > British passport with us) allowed us to arrive at the Niagara Falls airport > just at the end of dusk, where a sharp-eyed student spotted a Snowy Owl > atop one of the out buildings. An after-dark trip up the road on the east > side of the airport provided another Snowy Owl, this time perched along the > road on top of a utility pole. It gave us great, if dark, scope views, > then flew and foraged a bit for us before flying across the road nearly > right over us and perching in a field to the east. As we were leaving it > came back to a utility pole ahead of us, right next to a lighted gate where > we pulled in directly below it. It gave no indication it knew we were in > the world, or cared, and we got great looks out the windows. > > But, the day had one more treat for us. I deviated from my normal route > home via the west side of Cayuga Lake, for no good reason other than I > thought I could do an efficient gas-up and student drop-off, and a thought > that there might be a better chance of a Snowy Owl encounter going through > the agricultural fields of the west side. Sure enough, on rt 96 south of > Waterloo, apparently a safe distance within the Basin, one of the students > started thinking about finding more Snowy Owls, and the second utility pole > he looked at had one! We turned around and watched it fly up, not quite > across the moon, but out into the fields west of the road. (Somebody > dropped a pin at the location and might post the precise location tomorrow.) > > It was a very, very nice day. > > Kevin > > > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
