Today was the annual joint Niagara River field trip by the Buffalo and Genesee Ornithological Societies. At Fort Niagara we had a couple each of Red-throated and Common Loons, a White-winged Scoter, a few Horned Grebes and a number of Red-breasted Mergansers, Bufflehead, Scaup and Long-tailed Ducks plus a flock of flyover Snow Buntings. At Lewiston we added a Little Gull and eight Great Blue Herons in trees on the Canadian side. At the Sir Adam Beck overlook the California Gull was bathing in the north corner on the American side and a nearby immature Black-crowned Night-Heron magically alternated between visibility and complete camouflage among the rocks. We also had an adult Iceland Gull flying and on the water. Directly below the Horseshoe Falls we had excellent views of the immature Sabine's Gull wheeling in and out of the mist through a dazzling rainbow plus Common Loons and Long-tailed Ducks on the water; and above the Falls a nice mixture of the usual waterfowl including a Wood Duck a Hooded Merganser and two more Common Loons in the upper lagoon of the Engineerium Building. Flyover raptors caused hundreds of gulls to lift into the air twice; the first, a Peregrine Falcon spotted by Sue O'Donnell high above the rapids and the second, a Cooper's Hawk just below the International Control Structure. Several Lesser Black-backed Gulls were spotted along the pier at the structure, one missing a foot.
Altogether a delightful get together with our friends from Rochester under beautiful skys and with good birds and much jovial repartee between all. Mike Hamilton PS My apologies for the late post. My server was down last night
