Newsgroups: rec.birds
Path: utzoo!rising
From: rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising)
Subject: Gulls at Niagara
Message-ID: <1990Nov12.172621.23986@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 17:26:21 GMT

A bunch of us were at Niagara yesterday, and had a good day, with
9 species of gulls (and another party got a 10th); probably others
there.  The big four are Herring, Bonaparte's Ring-billed, and
Great Black-backed.  Others are not common, but seen regularly.
We saw Little (several), Lesser Black-backed (2), Franklin's (1),
Iceland (1-2), and B-l Kittiwake, and the other party also got
Glaucous.  Later in the month you should get more of the white
gulls, and fewer Bonaparte's and the other little ones (Little,
Black-headed--rare at best).  In addition to the ones that I mentioned,
"Thayer's", Black-headed, and Sabine's are seen rather regularly.
I think that it is clear that Thayer's-Iceland show clinal variation,
with the birds in the eastern arctic being paler, and those in the
western arctic being darker--with all sorts of intermediates.
See Richard Snell's paper in Colonial Waterbirds (nicely 
summarized by DiBenetictis in Amer. Birds??), and also two papers
forthcoming in the Auk.  

We were disappointed in the ducks, but a very windy day, and perhaps
the best movement of pochards is yet to come.  As already suggested,
the calm water above the falls is excellent for ducks (pochards,
mergansers, bucephalas), the rapids above the falls for Purple Sandp
(which we missed this year), and gulls (esp. Bonaparte's & Little),
just below the falls has been good for Franklin's (try under the 1st
bridge north of the falls and just below the falls) & L. B-b Gull,
and along the river at Queenston at the sand piles (this is where
we got the kittiwake, and have gotten Black-headed there in past),
and just south of there along the river is very good for Bonaparte's,
Little, Black-headed, etc. type of bulls.  I would not bother
with Niagara-on-lake except at dawn and dusk, nor with Fort Erie.
If you're comiong from the "north" and want to see some carolinean
species (titmouse, r-b. woodp, mockingbird, Carolina wren) the 
feeders on Shakespeare and Wilberforce streets in N-on-Lake are
good, and the people tolerant.

Good luck and good birding.  P.S.  bring your long johns!
-- 
Name:     Jim Rising
Mail:     Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada    M5S 1A1
UUCP:     uunet!attcan!utzoo!rising 
BITNET:   rising@zoo.utoronto.ca