I dislike running culture

Birding plans for yesterday - go to Fort Erie, check some of Lake Erie and then drive the river north...


What happened: Drive to Fort Erie, and discover they have the entire freaking lakeshore shut down for a gawd dang marathon.....

Seriously, they ran from Buffalo, blocked the lake, then turned around and ran the entire fashking road to Niagara Falls (shut down to cars the entire way)... Nice to know AFTER you make the drive down there..... Can't these people run somewhere that has a trail? Or run beside the road? If you can't manage to avoid being run over by a car, maybe you shouldn't do a Marathon in the first place??

And don't get me wrong, athletes who are capable of competing at a high level and make a serious attempt at running are great. They probably finished fairly quickly, but then there are a huge host of people who seem to think that it would be "fun to give a MARATHON a try"... They were walking within the first 4-5 miles, flapping their arms over their heads to get rid of cramps, drinking from one of 5 water bottles they have strapped around their waist, and a matching full-body running suit... Maybe if you spent less time worrying about your running fashion statement, and more time RUNNING - you wouldn't get cramps in the first 6 minutes.......


But I digress.....

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Can you tell I didn't find anything rare?


Fort Erie - was able to park and walk down to the river mouth... Lots of birds in Buffalo, not much in ON - highlight was a Juv Little Gull... Lots of Surf Scoters

Adam Beck - not much beyond RB and Herring Gulls... Thought about looking for the Black Vultures, but I didn't bother...

Whirlpool - nothing

Above the falls - 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (2 juv, 5 ad), 1 Horned Grebe (at the control gates, floating rapidly downstream and flying back south... did this 15+ times while I was there)... Lots of ducks (AMWI, GADW, HOME etc)

Also had a late Green Heron here

die, devil boat

Below the falls - NADA, although there was a lot of birds to look at... Mainly RB Gulls... Also a Scaup in the gorge... Would probably be more cool waterbirds here if the shut down the Maid of the Mist..


That's all she wrote.....


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Obligatory bird photos, just to prove I was out:

Tame flock of PISI near the falls itself...