Today after attending a meeting in the northern outskirts of Niagara Falls I drove south towards downtown along Portage Road looking for some lunch and discovered a great Cal-Mex take-out place called Frijoles near the corner of Portage and Thorold Stone Road. After downing a delicious burrito, I drove south along Portage and saw a small crow land briefly on a hydro wire next to the street at the corner of William Street. I did quick, relatively safe U-turn and watched the bird for a while (12:30 PM). After a while it called, and yes, it was a Fish Crow. With my iPhone I recorded several minutes of soft, nasal cah notes, as well as a few definitive uh-uh notes (occasionally with American Crows calling in the background for comparison). So, it's been a few months since reporting the Wiarton mystery mini-crow, but at least this time I was able to get digital proof of a real FICR. It seems most Niagara area reports lately have been from Fort Erie, so perhaps this observation is of some interest. Also, before the meeting (9:50 AM) at the Locust Grove Picnic Area I had deliciously close-up views of the three homely resident Black Vultures. One was perched some 15 metres away, on a branch just below the lip of the escarpment.
And before heading home to Stratford this afternoon, I checked out the gulls on the river near Queenston and had one winter adult Little Gull amongst the ~200 Bonaparte's. Several White-winged Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks and other common waterfowl were loafing on the river as well. Good birding! Jarmo Jarmo Jalava jjalava at yahoo.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
