Eleven species of gulls were found along the Niagara River today, from the power plants to the control gates. The highlight was an adult SLATY-BACKED GULL, found by Chris Kundl in the shallows off of Goat Island, just above Three Sisters Islands. Some of us are lucky (my hand is up) but Chris works this patch hard and deserves all the great birds that he has found there. Way to go, Chris! The bird was well-studied and some of us managed to get the very important spread wing photos (which helps to rule out possible hybrids). This bird shows a very broad tertial crescent, a nice string of pearls but no mirror on p9, and a mantle shade just slightly darker than that of a Lesser Black-backed Gull. This gull stayed at Goat Island most of the day, enjoyed by many birders, but was never seen to feed as far as I am aware. It would not surprise me if it is not found during the week, when it probably heads for the dumps to feed. After seeing it at Goat Island, several of us returned to the Canadian side and tried to spot it across the river, looking from the control gates and from above the Ontario hydro building, but could only find one obscured dark-mantled gull, which could have been the bird or a Lesser Black-backed Gull. Distance and other gulls in the way makes identifying this bird from the other side an extreme challenge.
The adult BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen for over half an hour this morning as it foraged continuously at the Whirlpool. When in the sunlight, this bird was a tough challenge to pick out, but it occasionally went into shaded areas where we had a better chance to find it. Jean Iron found an adult LITTLE GULL a little above Niagara Falls, nearer the Canadian shore. Other gulls today were Iceland, Thayer's, Glaucous, Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, Bonaparte's, Ring-billed, and Herring. We also had the four adult male HARLEQUIN DUCKS out from the Ontario Hydro building above the falls, probably not visible from the American side. These birds seem to be a tight-knit group, usually staying right together, and they looked just gorgeous in the bright sun. Our group consisted of Betsy Potter, Jean Iron, Celeste Morien, Dominic Sherony, Bev Seyler, Marcie Jacklin, Linda Goodridge, Kayo Roy, Blayne and Jean Farnan, and myself. Good birding! Willie ------------------ Willie D'Anna Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com Willie's 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/ --
