Joe Mitchell and I headed up to Goat Island in Niagara Falls late this morning and were later joined by Bill Watson. The three of us spent some time searching for the Orange-crowned Warbler, and after nearly an hour we found it foraging by itself in two small spruce trees that are located at the edge of the large brushy island that runs NE from the Three Sisters parking area. We had nice looks at it for about 10 mins before it flew through the brush and in the general direction of the short pines that are located near the restroom building. Joe then picked it up again as it was working its way towards the restrooms, after which it flew across the main road towards the state park maintenance buildings (these are the buildings one encounters on your right almost immediately after crossing the driving bridge onto Goat Island). It then spent the next 45 mins methodically foraging (almost crawling) amongst the bows of the large (50+ ft), sprawling Norway Spruce located near the large electrical generator box at the SE corner of the maintenance buildings. During this time a few other birders showed up and we had nice (but brief) glimpses of the bird as it slowly moved in and out of view amongst the bows 30-40 ft up.
On our way back south, we stopped along the Niagara River at Rich Marine in Buffalo, and almost immediately after pulling into the lot, Joe spotted a juvenile female Snowy Owl sitting across the canal on the pier at the north end of Squaw Island. Both the 1st-winter Little Gull (in-flight near end of pier) and juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake (on water amongst Bonaparte's) put in appearances here as well. Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/jmpawli10 AND www.flickr.com/photos/jmitchell81 Jim Pawlicki Amherst, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
