Steve Daniel, Dean DiTommaso, and I birded the river yesterday from the
Queenston boat ramp below the escarpment to the control gates near Chippewa.
Despite relatively low numbers of large gulls, it was one of the best days
this season for gull diversity with ten species seen. Juvenile gull numbers
Seven gull-watchers birded the river from the Adam Beck overlook at the
power plants to the control gates above the falls. Still large numbers of
BONAPARTE'S GULLS and today we actually found something with them - two
adult LITTLE GULLS just above the falls, picked out by Kevin McLaughlin and
Dean
With strong SW winds forecast to blow today, several birders made their way
to the beginning of the Niagara River in Buffalo-Fort Erie. Lots of nice
birds today. Following are what I heard about in addition to what we saw in
the area:
2+ Red Phalaropes, found by Rick Bacher(?), at the Black Roc
Peter Yoerg just phoned (7:35 p.m. Wednesday) to report a PIPING PLOVER with
about 30 Black-bellied Plovers and one Golden-Plover at the sod farms about
10 km east of Dunnville. The bird was on the east side of Hutchinson Rd (Rt
65) about halfway between Poth Road and Canal Bank Road. This is about
There is an eBird report of a pair of HARLEQUIN DUCKS on May 16th below and
to the east side of the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls. The description of the
male is suggestive and I suspect it is correct. The observer was on the Maid
of the Mist boat but scoping from either the US or Canadian side could
Forwarding for Bill Watson.
-Willie D’Anna
From: geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu
[mailto:geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu] On Behalf Of Bird observations from
western New York
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 8:44 PM
To: geneseebird.; DSuggs; Marcie Jacklin
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] W
Forwarding for Bill Watson. Other yellow-bellied kingbirds should be
considered as well.
Good birding!
Willie
From: geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu
[mailto:geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu] On Behalf Of Bird observations from
western New York
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 12:23
A late report from Peter Yoerg.
We had 8 spcs. of shorebirds on 11-3-14 at the Sewage lagoons. Fingal was
quiet except for a few Siskins. Feel free to forward this to Ontbirds as
we're not subscribed to it.
2+ Killdeer
2 Greater(?) Yellowlegs
1 Pectoral Sand.
11 Dunlin
1 Least Sand. -
From: geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu
[mailto:geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu] On Behalf Of Bird observations
from western New York
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2014 2:49 PM
To: geneseebird...@geneseo.edu; Suggs, David
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] Sabine's, Kittiwake, Phalaropes - Buffalo
Peter Yoerg just phoned to report a RED KNOT at Erie Beach, near Fort Erie,
Ont. This is on Lake Erie, near the start of the Niagara River. From the
corner of Lakeshore Road and Bardol Ave, proceed west on Lakeshore a short
distance and park near the end of the road. Look for a large sign promot
On Wednesday Jean Iron, Kevin McLaughlin, Betsy Potter, and I birded the
Niagara River from the Adam Beck overlook at the power plants up to the
control gates in Chippewa and back again to Adam Beck. There were more
gulls in this area on this day than I have seen at any other time this
season. It
Photos by Garth Riley of the eider found by Kevin McLaughlin at Fifty Point
on Lake Ontario, now considered to be a Common Eider, are up on my Flickr
site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/107683885@N07/with/11230006504/
Comments are welcomed.
DIRECTIONS:
To reach Fifty Point, take the QEW to
Forwarding for Rick Thomas (see below). This location is along the Niagara
Parkway in Fort Erie which runs right next to the Niagara River here. The
Lark Sparrow has been seen between Bowen Road and Central Ave, usually close
to Niagara Parkway.
Good birding!
Willie
-Original Message-
F
-Original Message-
From: geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu
[mailto:geneseebirds-l-boun...@geneseo.edu] On Behalf Of Gary Chapin
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 7:19 AM
To: Geneseebirds
Cc: Cayuga Birds
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] Elegant Tern
The ELEGANT TERN is at the north end of Squa
The ELEGANT TERN is currently (9 a.m.) being viewed at the north end of
Squaw Island by Dominic Sherony and others.
DIRECTIONS:
The best views are from the north end of Squaw Island because you can watch
the bird both perched and feeding. For those who are less mobile, I would
suggest the end
After missing the Elegant Tern twice by mere seconds and feet yesterday, I
feel much better today! I started out at the Sheridan Drive boat ramp to
check if the tern was roosting at Frog or Strawberry Islands. Next was the
foot of Hertel Avenue adjacent to the now famous Rich Marine. After some
Peter Yoerg just phoned to report a CATTLE EGRET near Rock Point Provincial
Park. The bird was where there were one or two Cattle Egrets a few years
ago. This cattle pasture is a kilometer or two east of the park, at the
bend in Reg Road 3 (where it turns northwest) and where a road comes off
hea
At 9:25 this morning I received a cell phone call from Kayo Roy that the
BROWN BOOBY, which had been sitting on rocks just a few feet from the road
in Lowbanks, Ontario, had just flown off, heading out into the lake and
toward Rock Point Provincial Park (that is, away from Buffalo). The bird
was t
Around 2:15 this afternoon Betsy picked out a first-winter FRANKLINS GULL
at Devils Hole State Park, as we scoped from the Power Vista viewing deck.
We were about ¾ mile downriver from the bird. There were many Bonapartes
Gulls (about 1300) in the area where the Franklins was seen. There were
The BROWN BOOBY was seen Monday between 12:30 and 1:15 on the Reef
Lighthouse, reported by a couple from Cleveland. There was also a
second-hand report of a sighting from the Fort Erie side of the bird on the
American side in the afternoon.
Good birding!
Willie
--
Willie D'
ining."
Presumably they saw it from Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo though I don't know
that for sure.
Good birding!
Willie
From: bounce-108908914-15084...@list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-108908914-15084...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Willie
D'Anna and Betsy Potter
Sent: Wednesday, O
I have only heard from one birder who looked for the Brown Booby today.
That was around 1:00 and he noted that there was also a family from North
Carolina looking for the bird. He did not see the Booby and the family had
not seen it to that point. He noted that it was very windy on the tower,
whi
The Booby has not been seen since early this morning (on the Reef
Lighthouse), as far as I have heard. In addition to Donnellys pier and the
Reef Lighthouse, the Booby has also been seen a few times on the piers of
the International Railroad Bridge over the Niagara River. Seeing the bird
there w
Text alerts are already being sent to wnybirds. The BROWN BOOBY was seen on
the Reef Lighthouse at 7:05 this morning from the Erie Basin Marina tower,
reported by Rich Guthrie. It then flew toward Ontario around 7:20, landing
in the water near the far shore. Not surprisingly at that distance, it
Many birders were on the Erie Basin Marina tower in Buffalo this morning and
several were on the Ontario side at the parking area opposite the old fort
but the BROWN BOOBY was not seen today until around 2:00, when it was found
by Brandon Holden from the Ontario side. The birders on the Erie Basin
Betsy and I found a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER around 1:00 today at the sod
farm near Lowbanks, Ontario. There were also 6 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS
nearby. These birds were on the east side of Regional Road 65 (Hutchinson
Road), which runs between Highway 3 east of Dunnville to Regional Road 3 in
Lowba
Please read the email below. Hamlin Beach is about 60 miles east of the
Niagara River on Lake Ontario. At 11:40 a.m., about 2.5 hours after Andy
Guthrie had this bird fly by at Hamlin Beach heading west, I had poor views
at what seemed to be a small cormorant among 25-30 Double-crested Cormorants
I went for the Fish Crows to the foot of Hertel Avenue in Buffalo this
morning. This was my second attempt, having dipped on the previous effort.
This time I did much better, spotting four or five smaller crows and hearing
about a half-dozen FISH CROW calls. Unfortunately, I never saw a Fish Crow
Kim Hartquist and Steve Daniel met Betsy and me for a successful day of
birding the river. The number of gulls was incredible. At the Adam Beck
overlook (power plants), we had:
15-20 Iceland Gulls
2-3 Glaucous Gulls
2-3 Thayer's Gulls
1 adult Herring X Glaucous Gull
1 adult hybrid gull - pro
Today, Celeste Morien, Betsy , and I went out on a quest for few birds. We
started at Port Weller, where we walked all the way to the end of the east
pier, then a little bit to the east, and had a nice views of the beautiful
adult male HARLEQUIN DUCK. Directions: From QEW, exit at Niagara Street
While looking for the SLATY-BACKED GULL that we co-found on Sunday, Betsy
and I discovered a different adult SLATY-BACKED GULL. We had excellent
views of it in flight as it fed about 200 yards from us. This bird differed
from Sunday's bird by totally lacking black on the bill and also by lacking
A group of nine birders from Ontario and NY found a SLATY-BACKED GULL just
before noon today. We had a lengthy study of it perched and doing short
flights, seeing all of the field marks. It was too distant for flight shots
but we got some digiscoped images of it while perched. It appears to be a
Betsy and I had at least three ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS over the Niagara River,
just off of the northeast corner of Goat Island, NY. One bird also flew
over us when we are in the parking lot (the big one at the upstream end of
the island - I.e., away from the falls). They were tending to fly over th
There were lots of birders on the river today. There were also a lot of
gulls, with 11 species and three hybrids reported. But finding the uncommon
and rare species proved difficult. I will list the highlights of the day
and hopefully, I will hear from other folks who had additional sightings.
I had a report from Thursday that there were very few gulls on the Niagara
River. This morning, however, Betsy and I arrived at the Adam Beck overlook
in Ontario (the power plants) to find an astounding number of gulls, mostly
Herrings but lots of Ring-billeds also, and a handful of Bonapartes.
Good numbers of shorebirds at Rock Point today were highlighted by an early
juvenile BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. This bird was in very fresh plumage. Other
species here were: SANDERLING, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, PECTORAL, SEMIPALMATED,
LEAST, and SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, KILLDEERS, and two
BLACK
The New York State Ornithological Association (NYSOA) held gull workshop and
field trip events this weekend. The workshop, given by Jean Iron of Toronto
in Niagara Falls, Ontario on Saturday, was free and open to anyone. Jean
discussed and showed slides of the different plumages of all of the gul
Sorry for the late post but Rich Fried and Rob Bate saw the adult
SLATY-BACKED GULL late on Tuesday afternoon. It was on the large flat rock
island that is in the middle of the river below the control gates. They
were viewing from Goat Island, just upstream from Three Sisters Islands.
They were a
It was a great day on the river today. The highlight was an adult
SLATY-BACKED GULL, found by Kevin McLaughlin on the island downriver from
the control gates. Word spread quickly and there soon amassed a huge flock
of birders. Suddenly, all the gulls got up, including the Slaty-backed,
which fle
It really felt strange to be birding under such balmy conditions while
looking at so many gulls. Betsy and I met Jean Iron, Ron Pittaway, and
Kevin McLaughlin at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario where we had distant views
of the RAZORBILL. The bird was not in front of the walls of the old fort,
as it
Betsy found the first CALIFORNIA GULL that I have heard of on the river this
season - an adult, seen from the Adam Beck overlook (Ontario) at the power
plants. Also here were a first winter THAYER'S GULL, an adult ICELAND GULL,
and a first or second winter LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. The FRANKLIN'S
Quite a day! We started at Fort Niagara where we paid our $10 to go into
the old fort to look out onto Lake Ontario and the mouth of the Niagara
River. I was confident, as the RAZORBILL had been seen only about 40
minutes earlier, and we had a group of eight birders with scopes, which
should have
Thanks to Andy Guthrie for posting this to GeneseeBirds earlier. The first
winter FRANKLIN'S GULL was seen from Artpark State Park in Lewiston, NY from
2:15 to 2:45 this afternoon. Take the upper entrance (off of Portage
Street) into the park, stay to your left, and drive to a small parking lot
b
I saw the Purple Gallinule between 2:00 and 3:00 this Tuesday afternoon. A
birder leaving before I got there was not so lucky. The Gallinule was
usually partly to mostly obscured by phragmites along the south end of the
pond. I was about ready to leave when it finally came out for decent
viewing
In the early afternoon while working today, I saw two soaring BLACK VULTURES
just above the gorge rim of the Niagara River. These birds were about ½
mile north of the American falls and would have been visible from Niagara
Falls, Ontario, probably across from Michaels Inn, which is a little
downr
The following was posted to Geneseebirds, NY. The King Eider that Scott
Baron refers to was reportedly seen and photographed at Port Weller on 11
December. It's a gorgeous bird - I saw a nice photo by Tim King.
Good birding!
Willie D'Anna
Wilson, New York
Hi,
I don't know how rare t
Regarding the recent posts by McParland and Murr, I have reread my email and
I believe that anyone who was offended by it has probably misinterpreted my
comments. The intent of my post was to help birders to refind gull
rarities. I stand by what I have written. I should also point out that I
was
Willie D'Anna
Betsy Potter
Wilson, NY
dannapotterATroadrunner.com
http://www.betsypottersart.com
___
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to birdalert@ontb
Six avid gull-watchers got together for a day of birding the river Tuesday
(Jean Iron, Ron Pittaway, Kevin McLaughlin, Declan Troy, Ross Harris, Betsy
Potter, and me). There were lots and lots of gulls to study, both at Adam
Beck (the power plants) and above the falls. At Adam Beck, we had about
Betsy and I birded the river for several hours today. We started at Goat
Island on the NY side and had 6 LESSER BLACK-BACKED and 2 ICELAND GULLS.
Lots of gulls sitting here.
Our next stop was at the power plants on the Ontario side - the Adam Beck
overlook. This spot was loaded with gulls. We
With the forecast, we thought we would only bird the river for a short while
today. Even though the wind was quite strong, there were several spots
where we were somewhat sheltered. And there were a lot of gulls to look
through. We only saw two other birders and they were new to gull-watching,
s
On the opposite side of the Niagara River from the boat ramp in Fort Niagara
S.P. today, there was a huge collection of LONG-TAILED DUCKS and
WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS. I counted 436 of the latter (probably close to 2000
of the former) plus I saw one female and two immature male SURF SCOTERS.
This loca
A lot of people out today but no sightings of the California Gull, Mew Gull,
or presumed Common Gull. An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen in
Lewiston-Queenston by a few lucky people. This bird was seen opposite the
Lewiston boat ramp and much further downriver from the Canadian side resting
in hu
It snowed about 70% of the day but the numbers of gulls were so impressive
that we just could not quit until it was dark. Betsy and I were delighted
to find Jean Iron at the Adam Beck overlook on our second morning trip
there. After ogling the 20 or so ICELAND GULLS, about a half-dozen LESSER
BLA
The river was great today! Our group of seven birders had 12 species of
gulls, including the first BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE reported in the river for
the late autumn (there were two Kittiwakes at the river mouth back in
September). Betsy spotted the Kittiwake rafting with Bonaparte's Gulls just
a c
Yesterday, Bob Spahn and I led the Buffalo Ornithological Society -
Rochester Birding Association annual Niagara River field trip. Around 30
participants began the day at Fort Niagara S.P. at the mouth of the river,
where Tom O'Donnell had arranged access into the Fort grounds. Here, out
over and
Sharon and Jeanne Skelly reported seeing the Sabine's Gull today. It was
downstream of the Canadian Falls, but not quite even with the American Falls
- flying and sitting with a couple large groups of Bonies. They had one
adult Little Gull and one adult Lesser Black-backed Gull there as well.
G
Betsy and I hit a few spots on the river from Niagara Falls to Lewiston this
afternoon. We focused mainly on the Bonaparte's Gulls, which come into the
river at this time of the year in large numbers when it is very windy, as it
was today. The highlight was a juvenile SABINE'S GULL, which was fly
Today at Rock Point (Ontario), Betsy and I clearly heard the song of a
PRAIRIE WARBLER twice but never could get a view of the bird. The location
was very close to the stairs that go to the beach in the southeastern corner
of the park. Take Reg. Road 3 from Dunnville south (or east?) and follow
s
The highlight of my day birding with Jim Pawlicki was an adult BLACK-HEADED
GULL in breeding plumage (full hood) on the lower Niagara River. We first
saw the bird about 1:30 p.m. flying downriver and landing with a raft of
Bonaparte's Gulls, from above the Lewiston (NY) boat ramp (the foot of
Cent
At the foot of Victoria Avenue (Hwy 24) on Lake Ontario, I found a
third-spring male King Eider today (Saturday). The bird was seen from the
road along the lake a couple of hundred yards to the west of Victoria. It
was with White-winged Scoters, of which there were many, along with lots of
other
Posting for Brett Ewald:
Around noon today, Brett and his tour saw an adult white-morph Gyrfalcon
while on the ferry to Wolfe Island. The Gyr was on the ice to the east side
of the ferry. The ferry leaves the Kingston waterfront on the half-hour and
returns from Wolfe Island on the hour.
Good bi
We and others saw the Spotted Towhee in Port Colborne, Ont. this morning.
It never came to the seed but was seen in the shrubs nearby for about 30
minutes. It is a very well-marked adult male.
Directions for the Spotted Towhee (from John Black's message) - To get to
Lakeshore Road East you need t
Betsy and I had a few birds on Saturday that might interest some folks.
After missing the Spotted Towhee in Port Colborne (at least we had good
company in this), we headed to the river, starting at the ice-boom. The
ice-boom is the cable that holds back the Lake Erie ice each winter and
which is l
Happy New Year, everyone!
Brett Ewald and his group saw the Slaty-backed Gull above Niagara Falls on
the Niagara River today. They were looking from the pull-off just
downstream from the control gates (the long structure that extends well out
into the river from the Ontario side). The Slaty-back
We did not see the Mew Gull today but for the second weekend in a row, Jean
Iron found a great bird - this one an adult SLATY-BACKED GULL among the
rocks mid-river just above Niagara Falls. When first discovered about
mid-afternoon, it was sleeping but she noticed a broad tertial crescent on a
gul
Several birders spent all day at the Adam Beck overlook (the power plants)
on the Niagara River today. There were many gulls, ten species in all,
highlighted by the two in the subject heading. Jean Iron picked out the MEW
GULL, an adult or near-adult winter bird, around 10:30 to 11:00 this
mornin
Thanks to Jim Pawlicki for getting the word out about this. Early this
morning, Betsy and I found a second-winter CALIFORNIA GULL from the Adam
beck overlook on the Ontario side of the Niagara River (the power plants).
We watched it for a while in flight and as it lit briefly several times on
the
11:45 a.m. Sunday - Jim Pawlicki just called to report an adult Black-legged
Kittiwake right along the shore at LaSalle Park in Buffalo. This park is
about 1/2 mile south of the Peace Bridge and can be accessed via the Porter
Avenue exit from I-190. Ontario birders probably would not be able to s
A few people were out looking today, including Betsy and me. We had four
Rough-winged Swallows off of the east end (upstream end) of Goat Island, NY
around 9:30 a.m. Later in the early afternoon, we saw probably the same
four in the same location, while looking from just below the control gates
o
Between 10:50 and noon, I counted about 23 swallows flying east to west in
front of our home by Lake Ontario in Wilson, Niagara County, NY. Our
location is 15 miles east of The Niagara River. Many of these birds were
fairly distant, out over the lake, being pushed by a pretty good south wind.
The
The bird was found this afternoon by Bill Watson. It should be visible from
the Ontario side - the first parking lot that is north of the buildings
along the river in the area between the Peace Bridge and the Int'l RR
Bridge. Observers on the NY side are getting in your face looks.
Good birding!
_
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Powers
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 11:16 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] Curlew Sandpiper still present - 14 October
An FYI: as of 11:30 this morning (Tuesday, 14 October) the Curlew Sandpipe
Seen on Friday. Directions by Gavin Platt are near the bottom.
Good birding!
Willie
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Tom Johnson
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 8:22 PM
To: Willie D'Anna and Betsy Potter
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-
Today, I saw and photographed the bird reported from Fort Erie yesterday and
last weekend. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a juvenile Curlew
Sandpiper. All characters point to that species. The only thing slightly
unusual about it is that it lacks buff tones on the sides of the breast.
We looked between 7 and 7:30 a.m. and around 4:00 p.m. for 10 minutes with
no luck. Others looked earlier in the afternoon and did not see it. The
location is on Cement Plant Road, just south of Hwy. 3 in Port Colborne,
Ontario.
We also birded the Lake Erie shore from Port Colborne to Rock Point
The Ross's Gull was a no-show for the entire weekend. There are still lots
of interesting gulls around and I suspect the Ross's Gull is also. People
have been checking different parts of the river. 2 Little Gulls at the
Whirlpool (Spanish Aero Car), a first-winter Herring X Glausous Gull (aka
"N
It figures. Get as many birders out there as possible, set up a good
communication network, and the bird doesn't show! Lots of people on Goat
Island and across the river in Ontario looking for the Ross's Gull today
(Saturday), all to no avail. Although there was a rumor floating around
Goat Isla
I only heard from two folks from Long Island, NY, who looked from 1:30 until
dark today - no luck. The weather was bad today so I am sure not many
people were out. I'll be interested in seeing what the ice conditions are
like when I go out there tomorrow because from what I have seen just a
coupl
For those who are not aware of it, Wednesday was incredibly windy in Western
NY and the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. In fact it was the windiest day I
and many others I have talked to, have ever experienced here. The highest
wind gust I heard about was over 80 mph. Combined with off-and-on
lake
Jim Osterlund has given a link to a useful Google map marking where the
Ross's Gull has been seen. This may be of some assistance to Ontario
birders crossing the border to New York. When crossing the border, bring
photo-ID and a birth certificate, or a passport.
Following is Jim's post to NYBird
Thanks to Kayo Roy and Jim Pawlicki for getting the word out about this
bird. I originally spotted it from the control gates on the Ontario side of
the river, all the way across the river on the ice in front of Goat Island,
a half-mile or so away. (Anyone who is in the market for a good scope, I
A group of gull-watchers scoured the Niagara River at the power plants and
around the falls today. There are lots of gulls on the river now but at one
point for an hour or two today, there were very few below the control gates
where there had just been LOTS. The reason was due to what sounded lik
Forwarding for Caleb Putnam.
Willie
Here are highlights from a 2 day tour of the Niagara gorge, 14-15 December
2007:
Black-headed Gull (1 on 14 Dec)- Fort Erie, Ont (just upstream of bridge)
with 4,000+ BOGUs
Little Gull (2 on 15 Dec)- Queenston dock, 1 2nd winter, 1 adult winter-
visible far to
Betsy and I birded the river Saturday from the Adam Beck overlook at the
power plants to the Wellend River in Chippawa. The cold and wind in our
faces early in the morning were too much at Adam Beck. We managed 3 ICELAND
GULLS in a just a few minutes before moving upriver. Nothing of note in the
The number of Bonaparte's Gulls continues well below average but definitely
increasing. The number of large gulls is also well below average. Few
highlights today. One adult THAYER'S GULL, still in primary molt, on the
breakwall below the control gates above the falls. One adult ICELAND GULL
at
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