Just passing along some sightings from around the Niagara River (on both US and CA sides) on Tuesday, Thursday, and today (Fri.) of this past week. On Tues. 12/23, an adult hen HARLEQUIN DUCK was above Niagara Falls in the rocks just downstream from the island behind the barge which holds the BC Night-Heron nests in the spring. Also here was a fly-over adult LITTLE GULL with Bonaparte's. Further downriver at Queenston were 2 more adult LITTLE GULLS along with juv. and adult BALD EAGLES. The power plants held very few large gulls (perhaps they were all at the dumps?) with the highlight here another adult LITTLE GULL. A trip on 12/25 to White Chapel Memorial Park, town of Amherst, Erie Co., NYS turned up at least 6 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS continuing to feed (often very close and low) in the Douglas Firs along the west side of the park along the creek. Also here were 15+ AMERICAN ROBINS. >From Beaver Island State Park at the south tip of Grand Island the same day, 226 TUNDRA SWANS were feeding out in the shallows downstream from Strawberry Island. On the island itself was a pair of adult BALD EAGLES. Around the loop at the south end of the park was a raft of about 800 mixed (mostly)CANVASBACK and SCAUP. In the open patches of grass popping up around the sledding hill were another 15-20 AMERICAN ROBINS, which with the birds at White Chapel, were perhaps part of a larger movement on the strong south winds of 12/24. Viewing from the end of Ferry Rd. just north of the park, there was a pair of PEREGRINE FALCONS sitting on their favored spot up on top of the old coal belt (looks like an oil rig) just north of the Huntley Plant along the shoreline in Tonawanda. While watching, the male took off and then after a minute or two of flying, perfectly coordinated a rendezvous with a Mourning Dove flying out over the river that lasted less than 5 seconds before the it quickly captured the dove in a dive; it then flew back to the top of the coal belt to feed. Today, 12/26, David Gordon and I went over to Fort Erie to look for the immature hen KING EIDER found by Peter Yoerg yesterday, but had no luck searching amongst the massive rafts of nearly 28,000 ducks present between the Peace Bridge and ice boom. A consolation though was finding a textbook hybrid drake HOODED MERGANSER x GOLDNEYE amongst Goldeneyes about mid-way out and looking towards the outer breakwall in Buffalo Harbor. Official tallies are below: 18620 Greater Scaup 980 Lesser Scaup 2 RING-NECKED DUCK 1680 Redhead 250 Canvasback 2800 Goldeneye 2240 Bufflehead 840 Long-tailed Duck 25 White-winged Scoter 4 Surf Scoter 3 BLACK SCOTER 60 Common Merganser 80 Red-breasted Merganser Also 1 HORNED GREBE near the ice boom Jim Pawlicki Amherst, NY **************One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)