A few mornings ago I took a break from report writing to look for two specific birds that had been discovered in recent days in Niagara Region. My first destination was Crystal Beach where a local birder named Wally Parker had discovered a Brant. Within North America this diminutive goose species breeds in the Arctic and winters along the coasts and small numbers are often seen from the shores of Lake Ontario in October and November. These birds are breeding to the north of us, stopping over during their migration to the coastal regions of the mid-Atlantic states. Occasionally a lone individual is found in southern Ontario. For whatever reason these birds have missed the boat on migration and often hang around for several weeks or longer. Occasionally, these sea-geese have even successfully overwintered in the province.
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
Upon my arrival at Crystal Beach I walked to the west edge of the parking lot. From here a large flock of dabbling ducks was busy feeding in the washed up algae along the shore. The Brant was quickly found, despite it being nearly the same size as the ducks.
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
I spent about 45 minutes with the bird. After a bit of maneuvering I found a suitable vantage point, close the waterline with the sun almost at my back. The angle wasn't ideal for photography but if the Brant turned the right way, I was able to get photos of it mostly unobscured by shadows.
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
During the majority of my stake-out the Brant was mixed in with a mess of Mallards, making the photo opportunities not ideal. During a few of these moments I turned to some of the duck species that were in this flock. Species that are commonly seen but which I rarely put the effort into photographing. Given that I was already in position and the birds were semi-cooperative, I took advantage of the situation and took some acceptable images of American Black Duck and American Wigeon.
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| American Black Ducks - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
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| American Wigeon - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
The Brant fed constantly in the washed up vegetation along the shore, to the point where it was very difficult to take a photo of it with its head up. Considering that it was having no problem gorging itself on the plentiful food supply it will be interesting to see how long it sticks around.
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
At one point the Brant chose a piece of turf that was apparently already occupied by a very territorial Mallard. It let its thoughts known by bowling over the Brant! I did not see these two individuals have any issues with each other during the remainder of my visit.
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
Here are just a few more photos of the Brant, during the brief moments when there wasn't a Mallard or Ring-billed Gull in the way!
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
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| Brant - Crystal Beach, Niagara Region |
My next stop was Niagara Falls where I hoped to connect with a Black-legged Kittiwake that Betsy Potter had spotted yesterday (November 26, 2017). It had been seen flying in and out of the mist at the base of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. This is a popular location for wayward "small gulls" and nearly every year either Black-legged Kittiwake or Sabine's Gull individuals spent time here.
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| Black-legged Kittiwake - Niagara Falls |
It took about twenty minutes of intently scanning the Bonaparte's Gulls, all the while fielding questions about my spotting scope from the curious tourists, before the striking wing pattern of the juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake flew across my binocular view.
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| Black-legged Kittiwake - Niagara Falls |
The "M" pattern on the upper-side of a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake is quite striking and easily viewed from a distance. This is even more apparent when you are looking down onto the bird from high above, such as from along the walkway overlooking Niagara Falls. The Black-legged Kittiwake had a noticeably larger wingspan than the nearby Bonaparte's Gulls and flew with a more graceful, arcing flight into the mist at the base of the falls.
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| Black-legged Kittiwake - Niagara Falls |
It was a great few hours of birding! I'm pretty fortunate that Niagara Falls is practically in my backyard. Who knows what will be the next great bird seen on the river (I'm holding out for Ross's Gull). There will be lots of eyes looking over the next month or so during peak gull-watching season. It should be fun!
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| Black-legged Kittiwake - Niagara Falls |
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