This afternoon there were 6 Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders at the park Visitor's Centre. Four Hooded Mergansers in the lake East side of Opeonga Road and two Horned Larks feeding on the grass by the Opeonga Lake Permits building.
Visitor's Centre and Opeonga Road all are off Hwy 60 North East of Huntsville. Eleanor Kee Wellman "All Things Wild & Wonderful" Box 823, Bala, ON, CA P0C 1A0 www.eleanorkeewellman.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Nov 19 21:48:56 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: ontbirds@hwcn.org Received: from ns2.mountaincable.net (ns2.mountaincable.net [24.215.0.12]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5DEA163D7E for <ontbirds@hwcn.org>; Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:48:56 -0500 (EST) Received: from D6FSCY61 (dhcp-0-11-11-d3-a0-c0.cpe.mountaincable.net [24.215.30.145]) by ns2.mountaincable.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 31E5B13FBA for <ontbirds@hwcn.org>; Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:48:57 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Kevin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <ontbirds@hwcn.org> Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:48:54 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]A few notes from Niagara Sunday Nov 19/06 X-BeenThere: ontbirds@hwcn.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 02:48:56 -0000 As well as enjoying the Razorbill excitement at the Niagara rivermouth today, we had a few gull highlights worth sharing. The definitive basic California Gull was in view from 8:30 to 9:30am on its usual rock perch at the north end of the American side power station. KM briefly glimpsed a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake flying past Adam Beck. Along with Betsy Potter and Willie D'Anna, we watched what was presumably the same bird at the Whirpool, after JI spotted it flying about with Bonaparte's Gulls. In the gorge at the Falls we found a first basic Little Gull and two more Kittiwakes in the afternoon. One of these was a typical juvenile, still possessing the thick black neck band. The other was an interesting bird which at first glance appeared to be a defintive basic ( winter adult ). After following the bird through the mist for an hour and getting fairly good views of the upperwing pattern, we were ultimately able to age the bird as second basic. Features pointing to this age class were dark lines on the outer web of P9, some dark markings in the primary covert area, and a contrast of paler gray on the "hand" of the upperwing with the somewhat darker gray inner wing and mantle. Kevin McLaughlin...Hamilton Jean Iron.....Toronto. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Nov 19 21:57:37 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: ontbirds@hwcn.org Received: from mail.wzrd.com (mail.wzrd.com [216.207.4.8]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3B0963D7B for <ontbirds@hwcn.org>; Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:57:36 -0500 (EST) Received: from SONY (69-160-12-161.bflony.adelphia.net [69.160.12.161]) (authenticated bits=0) by mail.wzrd.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id kAK2vWQk014559; Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:57:33 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Michael Hamilton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "GeneseeBirds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Ontbirds" <ontbirds@hwcn.org> Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:57:37 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Thread-Index: AccMT6Kl/tSUPUWgQzim6WqSyTFOLg=X-SMTP-Vilter-Version: 1.3.2 cc: David Suggs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ontbirds]Joint BOS/RBA Niagara River Trip X-BeenThere: ontbirds@hwcn.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 02:57:37 -0000 Today's joint Buffalo Ornithological Society (BOS) / Rochester Birding Association (RBA) trip on the Niagara River started off with a mega sighting, a Razorbill at Old Fort Niagara. Norma Platt of the RBA first spotted it and called out "alcid" and Bob Spahn identified it as a Razorbill. We had wonderful close hand views of this bird while it had a long rest between feedings and before it resumed intense feeding and pop-ups up for extremely brief intermittent views. Also seen: Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead and Red-breasted Merganser. Outside the fort entry Red-bellied Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Golden-crowned Kinglet were seen/heard. An adult and a second winter Little Gull were viewed form the Lewiston Docks along with eight Great Blue Herons along the Canadian shore and a small flock of Black Ducks near a hunting blind causing an intense discussion as to whether they were real or motorized decoys (until one flew away). Sightings from the overlook at Sir Adam Beck created much discussion and resulted in only one rare species, a flying California Gull. Both Bob Spahn and I could not remember not seeing an Iceland Gull there at this time of year although I had a brief glimpse of a probable Kumlien's. At the gorge just below the falls we had great looks at an immature and an adult Black-legged Kittiwake flying in and out of the mist at the base of the falls and resting on the water down stream. And below the control structures we had several Lesser Black-backed Gulls and another lively discussion about a possible Mew Gull that we eventually decided was a first winter Ring-billed Gull. Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable day with some people getting four life birds and very excited about it. It doesn't get better that that! Mike Hamilton BOS leader with Bob Spahn RBA leader