We first received a call about this bird around 10:00 this morning. A bird found by the Cayuga Bird Club (Ithaca, NY) led by Kevin McGowan, was described as a "possible third-winter Slaty-backed Gull" on the breakwall below the control gates in Niagara Falls, Ontario. (My apologies to any other person or group who may have found this bird earlier, as suggested by previous posts but we were not made aware of any earlier observers.) When we arrived at the scene about 40 minutes later, Kevin and his group were trying to relocate it after it had flown downriver. At this point, they were not at all certain that this was not just a hybrid, a very real possibility. Shortly after, we got a call from Jim Pawlicki who had the gull behind the gatehouse (across from Dufferin Islands). We rushed over and shortly, the Cayuga Bird Club also arrived. We were fortunate to soon see it stretch its wings - twice - and note a rather obvious "string of pearls". That is, this bird had a large mirror on p10, a smaller mirror on p9, and subterminal white marks on p8, p7, and p6, forming a string of white marks on the outer primaries in from the tips. That is, there was black between these white marks and the white on the extreme primary tips. In addition we noted the silvery-gray appearance of the flight feathers. Other characters noted were the bird's size - very similar to the Herring Gulls, and shape - relatively short-winged and stocky. The bill size was very much like the Herring Gulls though perhaps slightly thicker but rather parallel-sided without a pronounced gonydial angle. There was obvious black on the lower mandible and less on the upper mandible. I also noted a tiny bit of red on the gonys, just forward of the black. The bird appeared to be about the shade of a Lesser Black-backed Gull and later in the day, we had nearly side-by-side comparisons with an adult Lesser to confirm that the back (not the wing coverts which had some brownish mixed in, making them appear paler) was actually very slightly darker than the back of the Lesser. At different times, the "tertial crescent" looked either comparable to the Herring Gulls or wider. After much study at different angles, I am convinced that it does indeed have a substantially wide tertial crescent. The legs were a richer pink than that of the Herring Gulls. This latter feature was not as noticeable as it can be on adult Slaty-backed Gulls but it was still present. The eyes were quite pale, possibly yellow. There was a small bit of brownish both just in front of and just behind the eye (characteristic of Slaty-backed Gull) as well as other scattered dark marks on the head and hindcrown with heavier markings on the hindneck and especially on the sides of the breast and across the belly. The tail showed thin streaks of dark. In flight, there was obvious brownish on the underside of the wing coverts. This bird slept a lot but we also had it take short flights several times until, late in the day, it flew out to the middle of the river and landed amongst a larger group of Herring Gulls on a rock a little upriver from the treed islands where the Night-Herons nest. Although this latter spot is more than halfway across the river from Ontario toward NY, it is still in Ontario, much to the disappintment of some of the birders present. Sorry for the disjointed description but it was a long day. Lots of digiscoped photos were taken today though I rather doubt anyone got the wing pattern. Hopefully, they will be posted soon. Lots of gulls on the river today. Adult CALIFORNIA GULL at Adam Beck, Razorbill was seen early in the morning at the mouth of the river. Good birding! Willie ---------- Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Dec 2 22:03:57 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from mail.wzrd.com (mail.wzrd.com [216.207.4.8]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DEF60638FC for <[email protected]>; Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:03:56 -0500 (EST) Received: from STUDY (pm7-ppp046.dialup.wzrd.com [24.75.6.48]) by mail.wzrd.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id kB333kJF000757; Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:03:51 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Willie D'Anna & Betsy Potter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Geneseebirds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "OntBirds" <[email protected]>, "Suggs, David" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:03:50 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510 Thread-Index: AccWh6hzznZdI1EIS52TNSgDy5EUnA== X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-SMTP-Vilter-Version: 1.3.2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Slaty-backed finders X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 03:03:57 -0000
Apparently, some of the Cayuga Bird Club from Ithaca, NY were using a vehicle with Colorado plates - perhaps that is the source of the confusion about who the finders of the Slaty-backed Gull were. Also, I want to acknowledge the contribution of Mike Galas who, for the umpteenth time, has gotten the word out as quickly as possible about another great rarity. Thanks, Mike! Willie ---------- Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Dec 2 22:51:31 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from mx5-1.spamtrap.magma.ca (mx5-1.spamtrap.magma.ca [209.217.78.136]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 401F6638F2 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:51:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail2.magma.ca (mail2.internal.magma.ca [10.0.10.12]) kB33pVp9029099 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:51:31 -0500 Received: from desktop (ottawa-hs-206-191-56-130.d-ip.magma.ca [206.191.56.130]) by mail2.magma.ca (Magma's Mail Server) with SMTP id kB33pUl6032166 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:51:31 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Jacques Bouvier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ontario birds" <[email protected]> References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:40:13 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=response Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 X-magma-MailScanner-Information: Magma Mailscanner Service X-magma-MailScanner: Clean X-Spam-Status: Subject: [Ontbirds]Snowy Owl and thousands of Snow Geese near St-Isidore X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 03:51:31 -0000 This afternoon I located an immature Snowy Owl northeast of St-Isidore. This bird is a bit darker than the one I found on November 15 near Ste-Rose. The Ste-Rose bird was never seen again. Thousands of Snow Geese can be seen feeding daily (today too)in recently harvested corn fields from Ste-Rose to St-Bernardin. They move around quite a bit for various reasons. The 2 owls, geese (scroll down to Nov 18) and one of the reasons why they move around (Nov 29) can be seen here. http://jacquesbouvier.blogspot.com Thanks to Christine Brunet for informing me about a white owl (today's Snowy) that was being seen by a local farmer. DIRECTIONS to Snowy Owl: >From HWY 417 east of Ottawa take exit 51. Go north towards St-Isidore. Turn right (Northeast)on Caledonia Rd, then right again on Concession Rd. 9, then left on the Rejean Levac Sideroad (owl seen along this road). Jacques Bouvier CP/Box 184 St-Isidore, ON K0C 2B0 (613) 524-1154 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://jacquesbouvier.blogspot.com http://www.jacquesbouvier.ca/
