www.thefilemyrs.com > Birding > Niagara Falls 2007 > Trip Report
Niagara
Falls Gull and Waterfowl Extravaganza Trip
Report |
 Photograph by Karl Lukens |
Day 1 – Monday, December 10th, 2007
On Monday, December 10th, 2007, our group of friends left on our annual trip to enjoy the seasonal birds of the Niagara Falls area. Karl Lukens had come up from Cape May, NJ to spend the night with Bert Filemyr at his home in Meadowbrook, PA. Connie Goldman met them there, and by 6:00am the three were on the road to meet Ann Scott near the Lansdale exit of the Northeast extension of the PA Turnpike.
Soon the traditional group pool had us each picking out which we thought would be the first official trip bird, that is, the first bird seen after leaving together in the car. Karl’s choice of American Crow was to prove the winner shortly after sunrise, as we drove through New York State. From our moving vehicle, we began ticking off common birds seen along our route, anxious to be birding in spite of the considerable ride to our final destination. With a stop for coffee and one for lunch, we reached Syracuse within 4 hours and were across the border into Canada at 12:50pm.
Traditionally, our first birding stop would have been the American side of the falls. This year we opted not to stop there. There has been a first-ever sighting of Northern Hawk-Owl in Stoney Creek area of Ontario. This would be a terrific trip bird for us to see! We decided to stay on the road to this more north-westerly spot and then bird our way back down to Niagara Falls. Our decision proved wise, as the Hawk-Owl was perched on a wire along the road as we approached the numerous cars of local birders parked beneath it.
We were able to get an excellent, close look at the bird as we joined the group of birders and photographers taking advantage of this surprise visitor to their area. Ann got her life Hawk-Owl, and Bert and Karl shot amazing photos as the bird looked down at potential prey, and seemingly, at us!
With this great beginning, we moved on. We birded the expansive fields, tree lines and shrub rows around the Hawk Owl spot, trying for Northern Shrike also reported there, but not finding one. As consolation, we sighted some birds of prey, including Cooper’s and Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels. We drove southeast and birded spots in Niagara-on-the-Lakes, checking neighborhood feeders and areas along the lake. Here we added White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Black-capped Chickadees, to our trip list. Other common feeder birds were seen. Waterfowl on the lake included Red-throated and Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, and ducks including Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead and Long-tailed Ducks. As we birded, we enjoyed re-familiarizing ourselves with the beautiful pre-sunset views of Lake Ontario.
A brief, uncharacteristic stop came next. For a friend, we went on a brief shopping venture in the central commercial district of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Suffice it to say that as we drove off again, we studied the ingredients list on tins of Scottish Haggis, marveling at the various culinary tastes among the world’s cultures!
We approached the “fly-by,” the traditional spot near Fort George to watch gulls flying out to the lake for night roosting, as dusk settled in. From around a bend to our south, we soon saw row after row of Bonaparte’s Gulls approaching. As they flew north in front of us, we searched lines of birds for something different – a Little Gull or Black-Headed Gull among these would be a special sighting. Though we did not find either of these, more and more bonies flew by us, and flying Common Goldeneye also increased in number. We enjoyed this evening spectacle as a surprise coyote called in the distance! Finally, it became too dark to pick out field marks, and we ended our days’ birding. We checked into our Niagara Falls hotel, had a congratulatory Happy Hour, and completed our checklist of day birds. We enjoyed dinner together at a local steakhouse.
Day 2 – Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
The next morning we did not need to leave for birding until 8:00am – late sunrise at this time of year makes for generous hours of rest for birders! Today we would start in earnest on a special challenge we had set for ourselves this year. To add birding interest, we would do a more focused gull study, trying to age the gulls we saw. Bert had set up our checklist so we had spaces to tick off the various plumages for all the expected gull species. After breakfast in our hotel, we stopped first at the Sir Adam Beck Overlook to see which gull species were around. Hundreds of Bonaparte’s Gulls flew around the churning waters of the generating station’s open flow gates. Among them, Karl found a juvenile white-winged gull. We all worked to get on the bird, which was identified as a 1st winter Glaucous Gull. Bert found another smaller white-winged bird, this one a pale 1st winter Iceland Gull. We also observed Herring, Ring-billed and Great Black-backed Gulls, some in juvenile plumages. Finding no new species, we began moving south, birding spots along the Niagara River. This grey, cloudy day became drizzly. A feeding station we have visited in previous years produced some birds, including American Goldfinch, Downy Woodpecker and Tufted Titmouse. We drove through the Legends on the Niagara Golf Club, finding two Red-tailed Hawks perched in a snag near the entrance road, but few other birds within view. We searched areas there traditionally good for passerines, but found few besides Dark-eyed Junco. The area between the two southerly bridges spanning the river had been reported to hold a Black-Headed Gull. We birded various pull-outs along the river, scanning through flocks of Bonaparte’s Gull for this specialty. We found Tundra Swans and Common Loon. Ducks included Greater and Lesser Scaup, Hooded and Common Merganser. A great number of Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead and Common Goldeneyes floated north with the river only to lift off and fly a distance south again and again in seeming effort to avoid the rougher waters around the falls.
Not finding our Black-headed Gull as we reached the Fort Erie area, we reversed direction to bird our way back along the river. We stopped for lunch at a local Tim Horton’s, our favorite Ontario coffee and lunch spot! The drizzle shifted over to rain on and off. At the control gates area, we found numerous gulls, including Lesser Black-backed. We birded the Table Rocks areas above the Falls, looking for birds among the rocks near the old barge there. We added American Wigeon to our trip list here. We walked toward the falls in increasing rain, hoping to bird the falls themselves, but noting a huge cloud of foggy mist rising toward us from that area. As we approached the Canadian Falls, our already wet optics were met with a wall of water, wind and fog; the combined consequence of rain from above and also blown around in the mist of the falls. We realized we would not be able to see down, even if we could somehow manage to keep our optics drip free - which was highly unlikely! We walked back to our vehicles in a fairly drenched state, receiving sympathetic looks from dry auto passengers. We birded a woody area along the parking lot where well-wisher had left food for the local mallard and gull flock – food including carrots and cucumbers! The bird’s close proximity allowed us to study Ring-billed plumages up close, and we saw 1st and 2nd winter birds as well as adults. The cucumbers remained uneaten as we drove away – maybe the gulls prefer their veggies a bit mushier?!
Undaunted by the rain, we continued birding, checking out the Whirlpool Rapids and the Queenstown dock, but came up with no new species. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in at the Brock Monument Park where we found a flock of juncos, active in spite of the rain. We returned to our hotel for Happy hour and our day’s checklist. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in town, and enjoyed some of the glitzy night lights and attractions in the tourist area of Niagara Falls.
Day 3 – Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Today would be our day of birding Lake Ontario areas. After breakfast, we left our hotel at 8:00am again, stopping first at the Sir Adam Beck Overlook before heading northwest. Significantly fewer bonies flew the generating station this morning. We sighted an Iceland Gull. Then, Bert got on a bird with much less black in the wing-tips than the Herring and Ring-billed Gulls dominating the area. It set its wings as to give a distinct “Venetian blinds” appearance. The head appeared smudgy. We all worked hard to get on this Thayer’s Gull!
With a happy beginning to our birding day, we proceeded to our next hopeful destination. Bohemian Waxwings had been reported in a crabapple orchard on Walker’s Line near Burlington, Ontario. So, we would make a bee-line north and west to try for this species, spending some time, planning to bird our way back. Reaching the orchard, we were immediately met with another trip bird – not waxwings, but Pine Grosbeaks! A number of birds settled into a tree along the road, giving us our first looks. Then they flew into the orchard with more birds from their flock and we got wonderful looks at them feeding on the fruit. We noted the pinkish red adult males, the greenish marked adult females and some of the russet marked female or young male birds. We met John Millman, local birder-photographer, in the orchard. He generously offered to take us to a traditional Long-eared Owl roost in the area, in spite of having limited additional time to bird himself. We gladly followed him to the near by spot to look for the owls. Along the way, a grey bird shot across the street in front of our car. While we hoped for a shrike, this was a Northern Mockingbird, a new trip bird. After John left us, we birded groups of trees in the park for a time, but came up with no Long-eared this trip. We will surely try again on future trips to the area, and are grateful for the help of a knowledgeable local birder.
We headed back to the orchard, hoping to catch the waxwing flock coming in to feed on the abundant supply of crabapples. We parked and began scanning. The Pine Grosbeaks returned, and we enjoyed additional looks at them. We waited, and watched the area. Red-tailed Hawks flew overhead. Suddenly, Connie sighted a single Bohemian Waxwing feeding among the Pine Grosbeaks at the end of a line of crabapple trees! This was a lifer for her and for Ann! We got out of the car to get closer looks and photos. We confirmed the larger size, soft grayish appearance, rusty undertail coverts and wing pattern of Bohemian Waxwing. We never saw more than this single bo waxwing, but we all got great looks at this individual.
After lunch at – where else? Tom Horton’s! - we proceeded to LaSalle Park and Marina, overlooking Hamilton Harbor, to look for ducks, swans and other waterfowl. Our visit produced the predictable Tundra, Mute and Trumpeter Swans, and close range gave us some great photo ops. We also saw Greater Scaup, Canvasback, Redhead Duck, Common Goldeneye, American Coot and both Horned and Red-Necked Grebe. White-winged Scoters were present in numbers also. We drove to the breakwater at the lift bridge in the Hamilton harbor area and found few species – no seabirds, or new duck or gull species. Bert spotted a hunting Peregrine Falcon, however, and watching this falcon among the lift-bridge Rock Pigeons gave us a dramatic natural history moment.
We went next to the Valley Inn Road area, birding a marshy area with adjacent wooded path. Here we sighted Sparrows including White-throated, Tree and House. Seemingly tame Black-capped Chickadees approached within close distance of us, and Bert attracted one to within arm’s reach, demonstrating his skill at “chickadee-whispering.” Next we proceeded uphill on Valley Inn Road where Cedar Waxwings had been reported. Not seeing any food source, we scanned the skies, realizing that a sighting of this highly transient species might require some measure of luck. And luck must have been with us. Suddenly a large flock of waxwings flew overhead and landed in a large tree along the road!! We pulled over, and were able to get out and get looks at the birds. We scanned the flock for another bohemian, but all of these proved to be Cedar Waxwings, rewarding in themselves.
We drove off happily to visit a few stops along Lake Ontario. Van Nuys Beach proved quiet, Ginger-the-dog’s feeder area, adjacent to the field of communication towers was also quiet, and Grey’s Road did not produce any new species for us. We decided to take another trip to the Stoney Creek Hawk Owl spot before heading farther east. We could try for the shrike even if the Hawk-Owl was not around. Driving the road, we again saw cars parked. But birders were now visible off a distance down the railroad tracks in a more shrubby area. Perhaps they had the Hawk-Owl in sight in a tree there. We decided not to walk down, as we had already seen that bird. We would drive the roads and watch for a shrike. Not finding one, we stopped at various shrub rows, pishing for songbirds. We observed numerous mixed flocks, with American Tree Sparrows, American Goldfinch, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos and others. As the sun set, we headed back down the highway toward our Niagara Falls hotel. At Happy Hour we celebrated another successful day as we completed our day’s checklist. Dinner at a restaurant in town capped our day.
Day 4 – Thursday, December 13th, 2007
Another grey morning greeted us. We had breakfast in our hotel and planned to bird our way down to the Fort Erie area crossing into the US, birding the river again along the way. We left at 8:00am and headed first to the Sir Adam Beck Overlook to start us off. Connie spotted an immature Iceland Gull this time, for a new age group among our gull sightings.
We headed south and birded river spots. However, snow began to fall, challenging our efforts. We drove the Legends-on-the-Niagara Golf course again, sighting no new species. The feeding station on Peter St. was active, and Ann sighted a bird that was ID’s as White-crowned Sparrow, adding a new species to our trip list. The snow became heavier. Fog encroached and visibility out onto the river decreased moment by moment. Traffic slowed and we saw a vehicle having slid off the road. Few pull-outs afforded any visibility. We stopped at one area previously noted to have a sitting flock of Bonaparte’s. Here we scanned for the Black-headed again, but were not successful in finding it. We proceeded across the border back to the USA. Though we had hoped to bird a number of areas on our drive home, it became clear that this weather would not only prevent that, but would slow our progress toward home significantly. We saw many cars and other vehicles in ravines and roadside areas, having slid off due to the snowy conditions. We counted ourselves fortunate to avoid such a situation ourselves. We proceeded slowly, stopped for lunch and leg-stretching breaks, and distracted ourselves by listening to show tunes in the car. We arrived at Lansdale, delivering Ann safely at around 6:45pm and drove on to Bert’s house, arriving by 7:30pm. Karl then headed to Cape May and Connie drove home to Churchville. While our last day’s birding had been cut short, we had numerous special sightings on this trip. We enjoyed each other’s company as well as the birds, and we look forward to traveling together again!