This morning, Dean DiTommaso, Jim Pawlicki, and I did a lake-watch at Fort Niagara State Park. The number of Bonaparte's Gulls passing by, going east to west, was phenomenal. I counted 6600 Bonies and there were probably another 1500-2000 that went by before I started counting. I have been seeing high numbers of Bonies while lake-watching at Golden Hill S.P. this month but the number today was many times greater. At first they were from the shore to a mile or two out, an extremely heavy passage of birds. Before long most of the birds were at a good distance with many fewer near shore but numbers passing were still usually on the order of 50/minute. Among the Bonies, we counted four adult and one second basic LITTLE GULLS. We also had a juvenile PARASITIC JAEGER that seemed to be hanging around well off-shore. There was also a decent variety of other water birds: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40010496
Curious as to the number of Bonies in the lower Niagara River, I went to Lewiston landing, where there about 700 Bonies. Although I was unable to find a Little Gull here (a preferred feeding area for them), I did have a FORSTER'S TERN that was floating on the water with the many Bonies. I rarely see terns floating on the water. Unlike gulls, it is not a preferred resting mode for them. Good birding! Willie ------------------ Willie D'Anna Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com -- 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/ --
