[Ontbirds]Niagara River - Saturday

[Willie D'Anna and Betsy Potter]

Betsy and I birded the river Saturday from the Adam Beck overlook at the
power plants to the Wellend River in Chippawa.  The cold and wind in our
faces early in the morning were too much at Adam Beck.  We managed 3 ICELAND
GULLS in a just a few minutes before moving upriver.  Nothing of note in the
gorge below Niagara Falls.  Above the falls just downstream from the control
gates, we had 4-5 ICELAND GULLS, 3 imm. GLAUCOUS GULLS, and one adult
"NELSON'S GULL" (a Herring X Glaucous Gull hybrid).  The latter was large,
pale-mantled, and fairly clean-headed like a Glaucous but had obvious black
in the wingtips like a Herring.  In flight the black on the outer primaries
was seen to be mainly restricted to the outer webs like a Thayer's Gull.
The 3 Glaucous and "Nelson's" were all on the large flat rock area in
mid-river.  There was also a PURPLE SANDPIPER a little downriver from that
area, about mid-river (i.e. not close).

We looked for the Ross's Goose that has been seen recently on the Wellend
River around 10:00 and 2:30 but had no luck.

A stop at the Lewiston Boat Ramp on our way home produced surprisingly few
Bonaparte's Gulls and nothing different with them.  The LONG-TAILED DUCKS
are starting to build in number in this section of the river.

Good birding!
Willie
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Willie D'Anna
Betsy Potter
Wilson, NY
dannapotterATroadrunner.com
http://www.betsypottersart.com