Saturday, 16 January 2010 Hudson River, Town of Saugerties
Today I encountered a lone GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE associating with a large flock of ~700+ Canada Geese in the Hudson River shallows north of the Saugerties Lighthouse while surveying the river for the Ulster County segment of the NYS January Waterfowl Count. The best view of this congregation was from the north fork of the Saugerties Lighthouse Trail where it terminates at the viewing benches. The waterfowl (and open water) were a good distance north of the spit, requiring a scope for definition. Earlier in the morning, just after sunrise, I was scanning the Hudson River farther north from Bristol Beach State Park and observed a steady flight of gulls all heading north up the river to points unknown. Most were Ring-billed Gulls, but there were a few Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls and one adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL flying in the same field of view with a Great Black-backed, offering a nice comparison of the two species. A more extensive report on the results of the Ulster County-wide waterfowl effort will be forthcoming when all of the field parties have submitted their data. Steve M. Chorvas Saugerties, NY [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
