The last two days have been very waterfowl heavy. I took a long morning with my good friend Alec Humann, and hit a ton of places along the Niagara River hoping to score some good gull pics or a Red-necked Grebe for my life list on Sunday 24MAR2014. No such luck, but we did encounter a Common Raven engaged in aerial battle with a Red-tailed Hawk over the Mid-river Marina near the Huntley plant where the Raven are nesting on a smokestack. If you are looking for them: pull up to the plant, and pull over in front of the two smokestacks on River Road in Tonawanda. Follow the service ladder all the way to the platform on the closest smokestack to the road with your bins, and look just to the left of the stairwell. That is one giant nest! So, we did spot an Iceland and Glaucous Gull on our travels, but never a Red-necked Grebe and both gulls were too far out for photos. Alec and I split ways and I headed to Forest lawn Cemetery on my way home. It was a surprisingly good day there as I happened upon a Pied-billed Grebe, and female Ring-necked Duck right as I pulled up. Just a few minutes later I watched a Blue-winged Teal drop in from the sky (the in-flight picture). I called Alec and he made it over like a Super Hero responding to a woman in distress and mentioned it was the first report he had seen of the beautiful migrant this Spring. Good stuff. Later in the day, a male Ring-necked Duck showed up along with a pair of Hooded Mergansers. I'm missing tons of stuff, but I only grabbed good pics of a few things. I also made it down to Devil's Hole State Park the next day and found some beautiful Long-tailed Ducks. Other highlights at that location were a lone, breeding plumaged White-winged Scoter and an eye-level flyby of a Turkey Vulture while I was at the top of the gorge. The stairways on both ends are covered in ice and getting down or up is extremely dangerous. I would not suggest the journey to anyone right now until it thaws out. Here are a couple of shots form the last few days. Bird hard and lifer:
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Rick BacherI like murderous birds and the things they kill. Archives
August 2015
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