Gathering to draw hundreds to Niagara River to see rare birds

Ontario Field Ornithologists hopes to spot unusual specimens

Ontario field naturalists are heading to Niagara Parks this weekend to observe and track various bird species.

For more than 30 years, Niagara Parks has hosted the annual gathering of Ontario Field Ornithologists at numerous viewing sites along the Niagara River.

The leaders are volunteers from the organization, but also represent various field naturalist clubs from throughout Ontario, New York and as far as Michigan, including groups such as Bert Miller Nature Club of Fort Erie, Niagara Falls Nature Club, Peninsula Field Naturalists of St. Catharines and Buffalo Ornithological Society.

Participants report their sightings through apps such as ebird.ca or iNaturalist.org. Specialities to this area include species such as the black vulture, northern mockingbird, tufted titmouse and Carolina wren.

The Niagara River corridor is one of the world’s greatest gatherings of gulls and other migrating birds.

Stretching 56 kilometres from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, it became the first site in North America, in 1996, to receive international recognition as a globally significant important bird area by major conservation groups in Canada and the United States.

Starting each year in mid-November, the river comes alive with the aerobatics of more than 100,000 gulls on migratory flights from as far north as Greenland and the Canadian Arctic to as far south as Florida.

During this time of year, approximately 25 per cent of the global population of Bonaparte’s gulls migrate through the Niagara River corridor.

NIAGARA PARKS COMMISSION The eastern meadowlark typically departs by the end of November for wintering areas and return to the north after the snow melts in spring.