Joe Mitchell, Bill Watson, and I met on the lower Niagara River today checking out Goat Island downriver to Lewiston. In Niagara Falls from the shore of Goat Island in the morning (just upstream from the Three Sisters Islands) we watched the continuing adult Slaty-backed Gull standing out on the large flat rock in the middle of the river. It was difficult to observe at this time as it was partially obscured behind other gulls and lighting conditions were less than ideal. Just before leaving around 10:30 we briefly looked for the bird again, but did not see it. From Goat Island and later from the third of the Three Sisters Islands we also had an adult male Harlequin Duck that was about mid-river in the pool just downstream from the first shelf drop near the "treed rock."
At Whirlpool State Park in the late morning, the continuing juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake was foraging along the west shore of the inlet into the whirlpool. Later scanning the rocks below Devil's Hole State Park we did not see the 1st-winter Franklin's Gull here or while scoping the birds foraging downriver in front of the Robert Moses Power Dam. Out from the Lewiston docks was an adult Little Gull, while we also watched the now local green wing-tagged adult Bald Eagle in-flight and later bathing on the shore across the river in Queenston. From Artpark we observed at least a dozen Turkey Vultures flying along the escarpment and over the village of Lewiston, but did not encounter any Black Vultures. We also had an additional three Turkey Vultures earlier in the day between Whirlpool and Devil's Hole State Parks. Returning to Goat Island around 2:30 we scanned the birds on the shelf just upstream of the Three Sisters Islands and re-located the Slaty-backed Gull in-close and initially sleeping on the shelf just upstream from the third sister island (and in NY/US waters as previously mentioned by David Gordon). The bird remained here for at least the next hour and half as we watched it from the bridge between the second and third sister islands and later the third sister island. Around 4:15 it relocated over to the rocks along the shore of the Goat Island where we continued to have great looks at it from about 50 feet away. Around 4:45 with the light failing we watched it fly out towards the middle of river as the majority of the gulls were leaving the shelf area. Jim Pawlicki Amherst, 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/ --
