NYSOA Gull ID Workshop & Field Trip, January 7-8, 2012
updated 1/21/12
The gull identification workshop and field trip held the weekend of January 7-8, 2012 were a great success. Here are some excerpts from a report written by field trip leader Willie D’Anna, a recognized authority on gull identification in the Niagara region:
[At] the workshop, given by Jean Iron of Toronto, Jean discussed and showed slides of the different plumages of all of the gull species that have occurred on the Niagara River (19 species) and in Ontario (two additional species). The talk was very well received by a large gathering of birders from all over New York and Ontario.
On Sunday, I led the field trip along the Niagara River, with much appreciated assistance from Jean Iron, Ron Pittaway, and Betsy Potter. The trip was only open to members of NYSOA and included some 30 participants. In order to help learn the ID points from Jean’s talk the day before, assignments were given to find as many different ages of Herring Gull (all four were found), Great Black-backed Gull (three were found), and Bonaparte’s Gull (both were found). Of course, it was not all work and we found a lot of great birds on the day, a few of which were lifers for several attendees....[for trip itinerary & bird sighting details, see Willy's complete report]
For the day we had 10 species of gulls and lots of individuals to study. The number of gulls here is still very high, both large gulls and Bonaparte’s Gulls. Keep in mind that this varies. Weekdays seem to be poorer for large gulls (although Mondays may be an exception), presumably due to the dumps drawing them away. We were very fortunate with the weather, which could not have been better – I heard not a single complaint about being cold.
— Willy D'Anna, January 9, 2012
Read or download Willy's complete report.
NYSOA Annual Meeting
September 23-25, 2011
View Report & Photo Gallery NEW 12/5/11
The 2011 NYSOA Annual Meeting was held the weekend of September 23-25 in Dutchess County,
about halfway between NYC and Albany. The meeting was hosted by the Ralph T. Waterman Bird
Club and featured Scott Weidensaul as the keynote speaker. Scott's topic was Messing Around with Birds (for Fun and Science). |
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