[nysbirds-l] 11/22: Niagara River area - Hoary Redpoll, Franklin's Gull, Black Vulture, Wilson's Warbler, N Rough-winged Swallow
I had a nice day birding along the Niagara River yesterday from Ft. Niagara to Goat Island. I met Willie D'Anna and Betsy Potter to try and find the Wilson's Warbler found by Tom Kerr at Ft. Niagara yesterday. Our first stop was at a plowed field along Hulbert Road, where we had c. 90 Snow Buntings and small numbers of Horned Lark and American Pipit, but could not find Lapland Longspur. From there we went to Ft. Niagara where we quickly relocated the WILSON'S WARBLER in the brushy maintenance area west of the lakeside parking lot. The bird was difficult to see as it spent most of its time low in the weeds and was most easily tracked by its slightly wheezy chip note. Shortly after Willie and Betsy left a flock of Redpolls came in and fed in the low weeds. After a few minutes I spotted a paler bird which turned out to be a female HOARY REDPOLL. Eventually the entire flock got up and flew out of sight to the west. eBird checklist with photos: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12134707 >From there I went to the Robert Moses Fishing Access (across from Adam Beck on the Canadian side) to try for the continuing FRANKLIN'S GULL, which put on a good show near the platform. While I was here four BLACK VULTURES and a number of TURKEY VULTURES flew south along the eastern rim of the gorge. Numbers of gulls here overall were relatively low and I did not see any other unusual gulls. See Jim Pawlicki's message from Nov. 7 for instructions on accessing the fishing platform. The Franklin's Gull was also visible at a distance from the Devil's Hole overlook to the south. eBird checklist with photos: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12134715 My last stop was Goat Island. There were a good number of gulls visible from here, although many of these were on the rocks in the middle of the river or on the Canadian side, so only seen from a distance, and on-going construction at Three Sisters Island makes viewing the close gulls that roost there difficult. Highlights here were 11 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS of varying ages and four NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS that made a couple of passes over the Three Sisters parking lot. eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12134716 Cheers, Andy Guthrie Hamlin, 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] 11/22: Niagara River area - Hoary Redpoll, Franklin's Gull, Black Vulture, Wilson's Warbler, N Rough-winged Swallow
I had a nice day birding along the Niagara River yesterday from Ft. Niagara to Goat Island. I met Willie D'Anna and Betsy Potter to try and find the Wilson's Warbler found by Tom Kerr at Ft. Niagara yesterday. Our first stop was at a plowed field along Hulbert Road, where we had c. 90 Snow Buntings and small numbers of Horned Lark and American Pipit, but could not find Lapland Longspur. From there we went to Ft. Niagara where we quickly relocated the WILSON'S WARBLER in the brushy maintenance area west of the lakeside parking lot. The bird was difficult to see as it spent most of its time low in the weeds and was most easily tracked by its slightly wheezy chip note. Shortly after Willie and Betsy left a flock of Redpolls came in and fed in the low weeds. After a few minutes I spotted a paler bird which turned out to be a female HOARY REDPOLL. Eventually the entire flock got up and flew out of sight to the west. eBird checklist with photos: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12134707 From there I went to the Robert Moses Fishing Access (across from Adam Beck on the Canadian side) to try for the continuing FRANKLIN'S GULL, which put on a good show near the platform. While I was here four BLACK VULTURES and a number of TURKEY VULTURES flew south along the eastern rim of the gorge. Numbers of gulls here overall were relatively low and I did not see any other unusual gulls. See Jim Pawlicki's message from Nov. 7 for instructions on accessing the fishing platform. The Franklin's Gull was also visible at a distance from the Devil's Hole overlook to the south. eBird checklist with photos: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12134715 My last stop was Goat Island. There were a good number of gulls visible from here, although many of these were on the rocks in the middle of the river or on the Canadian side, so only seen from a distance, and on-going construction at Three Sisters Island makes viewing the close gulls that roost there difficult. Highlights here were 11 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS of varying ages and four NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS that made a couple of passes over the Three Sisters parking lot. eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12134716 Cheers, Andy Guthrie Hamlin, 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/ --
