Good evening birders: Today stan Bajurny & I did the Niagara River thing and the following are some of the highlights.
Queenston Sandocks in early am - 750+ American Robins at the docks and overhead (some flocks contained 100+ birds as they flew over), 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Northern Mockingbird, 1 Carolina Wren, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1 Song Sparrow, 250+ Bonaparte's Gulls and 1 adult Little Gull. Adam Beck Power Dam - 2 immature and 1 adult Iceland Gull, 1 adult Glaucous Gull and 1 adult Thayer's Gull. Below International Control Dam - 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 1 immature Iceland and 1 immature Glaucous Gull. Dufferin Island - 1 Northern Flicker over the north side parking area. Fort Erie - 1 immature Bald Eagle, 100+ Canvasbacks and 50+ Redheads. Mouth of the Niagara River at Niagara-On-The-Lake - 1 Northern Mockingbird, 1 Belted Kingfisher and 1 adult Little Gull. All along the river towards Fort Erie you will see many Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead as well as the expected ducks and on the American side you should spot Tundra Swans and at the mouth of the river were many Oldsq (oops) Long-tailed Ducks. And of coarse there were 500+ Bonaparte's Gulls in other various places, and lots of Great Black-backed Gulls (most below Control Dam). Queenston also (just before 4:15 pm had a flock of 500+ Starlings crossing the Niagara Parkway as we drove through. Also keep your eyes open for the birds seen and mentioned in Geoff Carpenter's previous email. All in all it was a siluvious day. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON [EMAIL PROTECTED] DIRECTIONS SAND DOCKS IN QUEENSTON >From St Catherines drive east on the QEW to the junction (Y split) with Hwy 405. Drive down Hwy 405 to the Niagara Parkway (at the river), turn left (north) and drive down the hill to Dumfries St. in Queenston. Turn right here and drive to the end, cross the last street, go down the hill and turn left at the first road and this will take you to the Sand Docks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- ADAM BECK POWER PLANT >From St Catherines drive east on the QEW to the junction (Y split) with Hwy 405. Drive down Hwy 405 to the Niagara Parkway (at the river), turn right (south the) and drive over the power dam to the small parking area on your left, park here and you can observe the gulls from the viewing area. The dam across the river in New York State is the Robert Moses Power Plant. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- DUFFERIN ISLAND and INTERNATIONAL CONTROL DAM Dufferin Island is about 1km up river (on the right - signed) from the falls and the Control dam is about 1km further up the river on the right. NCM "Norm Murr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
