I'd don't want to rain on anyone's parade but the gull numbers on the
River today were way below expectations. Birding with Ron Scovell, we
had a single Glaucous Gull and very low numbers of Herring, Ring-billed
and Bonaparte's Gull. We started at Niagara on the Lake about 8:30 am
and left around 4:00 pm after covering most of the river to Fort Erie
and back. Apologies to the memory of Gordon Bellerby but we ignored the
fly-past (or was it fly-by). We may have spent too long searching for
the Black-headed Gull but total numbers of Bonaparte's Gull could have
been less than 1000 and Herring Gull much lower. 3 Red-throated Loons
at the gazebo at Niagara on the Lake along with a good numbers and
diversity at the base of Fruit Land Road in Stony Creek were our
high-lights.
Looking forward more optimistic reports but that is what we had today.
Directions and strategies for birding the Niagara River refer to Clive
Goodwin's still accurate Bird-Finding Guide to Ontario.
--
Mark Cranford
Mississauga, Ont.
mark.cranford at rogers dot com
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