Buffalo Ornithological Society
Birding Western New York and the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario

American Pipit - © Sue Barth

UPDATE 3/27/24 - this trip has filled. I have started a wait list, so please reach out if you are interested in being added to the wait list.

We will focus our time on Cape Island (south of the Cape May canal) at all the famous hotspots. Being a migration bottleneck for southbound birds, our itinerary will be greatly influenced by the werather. The great thing about Cape May is that there is ALWAYS great birding to be had - whether a NW wind is blowing birds our way or not!
A pontoon boat trip into the salt marsh, Higbee Beach, the Hawkwatch, South Cape May Meadows, and other hotspots will be on our itinerary. We will also visit Stone Harbor/Nummy Island and the Avalon Seawatch. and I will try to arrange for hawk and owl banding demos. I will be plugged in to the local RBA so we can keep up on reported rarities. Participants are expected to book their own accommodations (I will assist with this) as well as travel to/from/around Cape May. All BOS members are invited. Below is a sample itinerary...

Wednesday, October 23
730-900. Coral Avenue Dune Crossing on Cape May Point. We will gather on the wooden deck overlooking the Delaware Bay and enjoy the dawn passerine flight, early raptor flight, gulls, terns and shorebirds.
900-1200. Stop for breakfast/lunch at Wawa and then go the the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge aka 'The Meadows' (Nature Conservancy Property). We will walk the gravel trail through the freshwater marsh out to the ocean/beach. Birds of interest here include shorebirds and herons/egrets, bittern, terns, possibly hawk flight overhead and VA Rail and Sora.
1200-400. Hawkwatch. If the hawk flight isn't happening we will walk the trails at Cape May Point State Park. If raptors are flying, it will be awesome! Not only do raptors pass over the hawkwatch but so to many other birds. Bunker Pond, in front of the platform, will have a great collection of waterfowl, usually including several Eurasian Wigeon. We will have plenty to look at!
400-630. Siesta, shower, catch your breath.
630. Group dinner at Congress Hall’s Blue Pig Tavern
830. Possible owl banding demo if any birds have been caught at the net check around this time and then to bed!

Thursday, October 24
730-900. Coral Avenue Dune Crossover for the morning passerine flight - as yesterday.
900-200. Pick up breakfast/lunch at Wawa and head north to the Avalon Seawatch; weather permitting. This is staffed by a CMBO employee for the entire fall season. We should expect to see plenty of scoters, Red-throated Loons, Gannets, Brant and others. More uncommon species include Purple Sandpiper, Parasitic Jaeger and occasionally Humpback Whale!
200-400. Drive back to Cape May (about 30 mins), take a nap, visit CMBO bookstore on your own if you like
430-600. Sunset at The Meadows. We will walk out to the observation tower and look west for possible Long-eared Owls to come out of roost, as well as American Bitterns flying up out of the marsh in front of us and whatever else we may be privy to see!
600-630. Possible owl banding demo if any birds are caught upon opening nets.
730-830. Group dinner at Lucky Bones.

Friday, October 25
730-1100. Stone Harbor and Nummy Island Loop. We will stop at the Wetlands Institute to check the marsh for possible Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Glossy Ibis. At Stone Harbor Point we will walk the beach in search of shorebirds like Western Sandpiper, Sanderling, Turnstone, Black-bellied Plover, etc... We will stop on Nummy Island to check the marsh for Nelson's, Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows, Clapper Rail, herons and egrets and Oystercatcher.
1100-430. Drive back to Cape May (15 mins), pick up lunch and go to the hawkwatch. Bird around the State Park trails/ponds/beach. If the hawkwatch isn't exciting, we will head over to The Rea Farm/Beanery to walk the trails there for songbirds. We may also check Lily Lake for interesting waterfowl.
430-530. Rest back at hotel before dinner.
600-730. Dinner at Bella Vida.
800. Possible owl banding demo if birds are caught.

Saturday, October 26
730-930. Walk the trail at The Meadows for shorebirds, rails, herons and other waders.
930-1230. Salt marsh safari aboard The Skimmer, which is a flat-bottom pontoon boat. The boat leaves from Cape May Inlet Marina. We will be hoping for up close looks at Clapper Rail, Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, Oystercatcher, Brant, Seaside and Saltmarsh Sparrows, Great Cormorant and more.
1230-200. We can get lunch and head to the hawkwatch or if the weather isn't conducive, we can eat lunch at The Lobster House which is close to the marina.
230-500. Bird Higbee Beach or Hidden Valley for passerines and then end the trip. No group dinner tonight.

So this is a tentative schedule. We will plan on chasing any rarities that are found during our 4 days and that will of course affect our schedule. Some of the target birds include Clapper Rail, Seaside, Nelson's and Saltmarsh Sparrows, Marbled Godwit, American Oystercatcher, Western Sandpiper and Red Knot, Parasictic Jaeger, Purple Sandpiper and more!
If any of the days sound too intensive, remember, you can always head back to your hotel for a rest or stay at the hawkwatch when we go somewhere else. A WhatsApp group will be set up so everyone can stay in touch. It will make it easier to reconnect with the group of you decide to bow out of a time slot for some reason. Other hotspots we may add in or supplement with are Sunset Beach/Magnasite Plant, Cox Hall Creek and 2nd Avenue Jetty. Whatever we do, we are going to enjoy lots of great birds! If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me (alechumann@msn.com).

Photo is of Marbled Godwits.

Saturday, November 2, 2024 - Lake Ontario Plain Field Trip for fall migrants.
*PLEASE be mindful of the weather date which will be Sunday, November 3, 2024.

Meet at 8 AM at Tops Market in Wright's Corners. This is on the east side of Route 78 and Route 104, north of Lockport.

Leader: Willie D'Anna (716-751-3637 or dannapotter@roadrunner.com)

This trip is a car caravan of sorts, plying the rural roads of Niagara County in search of late fall migrants. Every year is different, but with all of the fields and open space habitat we will check, it is reasonable to see Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, and possibly early winter arrivals such as Northern Shrike and Rough-legged Hawk. Horned Larks should be added to the day's list as well. A few stops along the Lake Ontario shore lookouts should produce Horned Grebe and several species of scoters and other diving ducks.

PLEASE NOTE - this field trip can be moved to Sunday as a rain date. This will be an annual standing possibility due to the likelihood of inclement weather at this time of year!

Photo of a Purple Sandpiper on the Olcott Pier, November 10, 2023 by Willie D’anna.

Dr. Williamson will discuss her research on birds that make extreme seasonal shifts in elevation during migration, and will talk about how these movements affect ecology, evolution, and physiology. She will focus on her recent work with giant hummingbirds (Patagona spp.) in Peru and Chile, in which she's combined migration tracking, genomics, and field physiology to uncover a spectacular long-distance migratory journey with an extreme elevational ascent – and a cryptic speciation event, resulting in description of the world's largest hummingbird species.

Leaders: Katelyn Davis and Devin Banning (716-260-8889) Devin.Banning@fredonia.edu
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2024
Meeting time: 9:00am

Place: Dunkirk Harbor Pier
Alternate meeting place (to be used if pier is closed): Dunkirk Memorial Park (just west of the pier on Route 5)

This trip will be targeting newly arrived waterfowl that use the Dunkirk Harbor and the surrounding area to winter. It is not unusual to see over a dozen species of waterfowl in a morning here!
We will also be looking for gulls and shorebirds along the way, as well as the harbor’s resident Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons. Bring a scope if you have one, if not we can share!
Depending on recent bird reports from surrounding hotspots, we may choose to bird Point Gratiot, the Berry Road Marsh and/or Lake Erie SP after birding the harbor. Dress for the weather, there is often a breeze coming off the lake.

Common Loon photographed by Gale VerHague at Dunkirk Harbor on November 7, 2023.

Leader is Tom O’Donnell
Tmodonnell@roadrunner.com
(716) 622-5185

This is a joint field trip with the Rochester Birding Association

Meet at 9:00 a.m. at the large parking lot overlooking Lake Ontario at Fort Niagara State Park in Youngstown. From here we will scope the lake for waterfowl, loons and gulls. This is a good location for White-winged Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks. This location has hosted rarer birds such as King Eider, Razorbill and Western Grebe in years past.
We will check the usual locations on the US side before crossing into Canada; Goat Island/Three Sisters and the Whirlpool. A stop at St Peter’s Church on Center Street in Lewiston should add wintering Turkey and Black Vultures to our day list.
This will be an all-day trip that will cross through customs into Canada. Participants MUST bring passports or Enhanced Driver’s licenses if you want to continue the trip into Canada. Here we will peer down upon the lower Niagara for white-winged Gulls as well as possible Little Gulls.
Be prepared for potentially cold weather/wind. Would be easiest for participants to bring their own lunches/snacks and beverages…dig out your thermos! If you have a spotting scope, this would be a great trip to bring it to!

Leaders: Tom O’Donnell of the Buffalo Ornithological Society (BOS) 716-622-5185 or tmodonnell@roadrunner.com and from the Rochester Birding Association (RBA) - Neal Reilly 518-256-9147, co-leader Cathy Ballard 585-322-2621

Photo of a male Long-tailed Duck from Ft Niagara SP in March 2016 by Tony Dvorak.

Annual Holiday Celebration at 7:00 PM in the Cummings Room of the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Please bring a treat to share and enjoy an evening of birding friendship.

This circle is on Grand Island, NY

Compiler: David Gordon
E: dgordonphoto@yahoo.com
P: 716-390-1429

See our CBC webpage for more details: Christmas Bird Counts

Compiler: Regina M. VanScoy
E: vanscoy716@outlook.com
P: 716-925-7109

See our CBC webpage for more details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is in St. Catharines, Ontario

Compilers: Bob Highcock / Jean Hampson
E: bob.jean@sympatico.ca
P: home: 905-688-1260, cell: 905-327-5457

See our CBC webpage for details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is held in Java, NY
Start time is 8 AM
Participants can sign up here: Beaver Meadow CBC Signup Page »

Compiler: Tom Kerr
E: tom@buffaloaudubon.org
P: Beaver Meadow 585-457-3228 Tues - Sat

See our CBC webpage for details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC circle is in Wilson, NY

Compiler: Joel Strong
E: joelstrong78@yahoo.com
P: 727-519-4043

See our CBC webpage for details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is held in Niagara Falls, NY & ON

Compilers:
Marcie Jacklin for Ontario
E: mjacklin@brocku.ca
P: 905-871-2577

Willie D'Anna for NYS
E: dannapotter@roadrunner.com
P: 716-751-3637

See our CBC webpage for more details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is being held in Alabama, NY

NOTE: The passing of 3 counters has left a big hole in our circle.
Contact Celeste Morien, the compiler, to volunteer!

E: celeste.morien@gmail.com
P: 585-721-8202

See our CBC webpage for more details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is being held in the Dunkirk - Fredonia area.

Compiler: Joanne Goetz
E: goetz@netsync.net
P: 716-673-1627

See our CBC webpage for more details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is held in Granger, NY. The circle covers a large area of Section 19 in the BOS Study Region. Contact Matt to volunteer!

Compiler: Matt Nusstein
E: matthew.nusstein@parks.ny.gov
P: 716-446-3376

See our CBC webpage for details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC is held in the Hamburg - East Aurora area.

Compiler: Tom O'Donnell
E: tmodonnell@roadrunner.com
P: 716-284-5569

See our CBC webpage for details: Christmas Bird Counts

This CBC circle is in Port Colborne, Ontario.

Compiler: Drew Campbell
E: drewcampbell@roadrunner.com
P: 716-668-0759 or cell 812-797-6679

See our CBC webpage for more details: Christmas Bird Counts

UPDATE - This departure is full. If you are interested in this trip, a wait list has been started. Please email me for the itinerary at alechumann@msn.com.

The bulk of the trip will be spent between two Amazonian lodges situated along the Napo River, which is a tributary of the mighty Amazon. Both Sani Lodge and Napo Wildlife Center (links embedded in the itinerary) have canopy towers which will offer spectacular views of the tree tops and close views of birds that would be very difficult to see from the ground as well as a clay lick where parrots/parakeets/macaws come in the early morning to ingest the clay minerals which help to neutralize toxins found in rainforest fruits and seeds. A recent video taken at Napo of an adult Crested Eagle raiding an Oropendola colony had me quite captivated! Travel to/from these lodges is in motorized boats which will offer views of birds and mammals as we come and go.
There are so many iconic species to be seen such as Blue-and-Yellow-Macaw, Zigzag Heron, Hoatzin, Horned Screamer, Gray-winged Trumpeter, Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Swallow Tanager, Ladder-tailed Nightjar, several of the large Woodpeckers, and Hawk-Eagles among so many, many others! We will take an interior flight from Quito to Coca to start off our Amazon tour. On the return trip, we will drive back towards Quito with stops along the way.
Our guide has also added Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge which is in the cloudforest belt of the Andes. This will get us into position to see a different suite of birds such as Plushcap, Tanager Finch, White-faced Nunbird and others.

Photo is of male Swallow Tanagers.

UPDATE 7/15 - This trip is now full. Wait list has been started.

UPDATE 7/03 - There are two spaces remaining for this departure.

UPDATE 6/17 - at this time, this trip is tentatively full. I anticipate 1 or 2 cancellations so if you are interested, let me know asap!
UPDATE 6/5/2024
Four spaces have already been spoken for. If this trip interests you, please get in touch with me sooner than later!

I am having Patrick O'Donnell, a great friend and previous BOS member who currently resides in Costa Rica, plan a Relaxed and Easy Tour March 15-24, 2025. This trip will extend 10 days/9 nights and visit such birdy locales such as the Sarapiqui Region, Arenal Observatory Lodge and the Cano Negro Wetlands. Despite the tour being 'relaxed and easy', participants will still come away with hundreds of species of birds! This tour will offer plenty of photo ops as well! Target birds are many. We will make special effort to see both Scarlet and Great Green Macaws, Spectacled, Crested and Black-and-White Owls, Great Curassow, Emerald Toucanet, several Motmots, White Hawk, a slew of tanagers and hummingbirds and so much more! If you are interested, please reach out to Alec for the trip details and itinerary!
alechumann@msn.com


Photo is of Great Green Macaws from the Sarapiqui Region.

Randi Minetor, President of the Rochester Birding Association is an author who will be giving a presentation on her book, The Complete Language of Birds

UPDATE 9/17/2024 - this departure is full. There will be a second departure in June/July 2026 - tour date not set yet.

June 7-15, 2025
This trip is limited to 6 participants. Our group will travel together by van.

Target birds are MANY, but Montana is a large state! Our tour will cover a wide range of habitats in western MT including spruce forests of the Bitterroot Range, high sagebrush valleys, short grass prairie and pothole wetlands. Yes, Great Gray Owls nest in Montana and that will definitely be a target species - why freeze your tuchus off at Zax-Sim Bog in February?!

Our group will fly in/out of Missoula where we will spend our first three nights. After that we hop around between Dillon, Helena, Harlowton, and Great Falls.

Other birds of interest include but limited to...Dusky Grouse, Black Swift, Long-billed Curlew, Goshawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Williamson's Sapsucker, Lewis's and Three-toed Woodpeckers, Prairie Falcon, Pinyon Jay, Dipper, Sprague's Pipit, several finches, 2 longspurs, Brewer's, Baird’s and Sagebrush Sparrows, MacGillivray's and Townsend's Warblers, Lazuli Bunting and more! Yes, we will also try for Great Gray and Flammulated Owls.

Photo of a Great Gray Owl, Powell, Montana.

UPDATE 7/17/24 - This trip is now full. A wait list has been started.

This trip is still in its fledgling stage of planning. The date span for Joan to guide us is set, which will be Monday, June 30 - Wednesday, July 2, 2025 - which means you would plan on arriving at the ADK Hotel on Sunday afternoon/evening for 4 nights, departing Thursday morning for home. This will give us two days of guided birding with Joan and a built in rain day. If we don't need a rain day, then those who want to check out on Wednesday may do so. As soon as the itinerary and cost become available, I will email it out to the membership.

In the meantime, if you are interested in joining this trip, reach out asap as space will be limited!

I will be hiring Joan Collins as our local guide. Joan is a resident of Long Lake and has THE MOST incredible hearing! Joan is THE GUIDE TO GET for catching up to the 'Holy Trinity' of Adirondack birds - Canada Jay, Black-backed Woodpecker and Boreal Chickadee. In the past she has also tossed birds like Spruce Grouse, White-winged Crossbill and Bicknell's Thrush into the ring! We will certainly make a concerted effort to catch up with all of these specialties and more!

Tour participants will be in charge of driving themselves to the Adirondack Hotel which will be our base of operations, it is about a 5-hour drive from Buffalo. Expect early mornings - especially when we go for Bicknell's Thrush on Whiteface Mountain. We can carpool the days we are birding from the hotel since we will all be staying in the same place. Alec will reserve a block of rooms for the group.



Black-backed Woodpecker by Sue Barth at Sabbatis Bog, July 6, 2018 (BOS Tour).

UPDATE 10/17/24 - This departure is now full.

UPDATE 9/16/24 - There is one space remaining.

This trip will be limited to 7 participants, plus myself, and will span 6 full days of birding plus 3 travel days (due to overnight flight and 6-hour time zone difference). We will depart on Sunday, August 31 on an overnight flight to Copenhagen, Denmark; arriving midday Monday, Sept 1. We then fly home on Monday, September 8, 2025. Flights for western Europe depart in the afternoon from the eastern US, fly overnight and arrive at destination the following morning/afternoon.
Our British guide, Stephen, will pick us up from the airport and drive 45 minutes across the Oresund Bridge to the southwestern town of Vellinge, Sweden where we will stay at a free-range, organic farm for our tour.
Falsterbo has a bird observatory where point counts and banding are conducted and our tour will be based nearby. Daily itinerary will be dictated by the weather as this is a migration bottleneck, like legendary Cape May, NJ or Point Pelee, Ontario. This tour will coincide with a wide variety of migrants, and if migration isn't especially active we will head inland to search out forest species such as Black Woodpecker! Target birds will be many including…Eurasian Hobby, Bearded Reedling, Eurasian Curlew and Oystercatcher, Pied Avocet and Lapwing, two species of Harrier, Wagtails, Pipits, Green Woodpecker and so forth and so on! Stay tuned for updates! If you are interested, let me know so that I can add your name to the wait list - alechumann@msn.com

Here is the link to the trip report from the September 2024 tour…

https://ebird.org/tripreport/273583 »


Photo is of the iconic White Stork.

UPDATE - this departure is already filled. If you are interested in this trip, please reach out as I can add a 2nd departure if enough interest warrants. The 2nd departure would run Sunday, February 8 - Saturday, February 20, 2026.

Tour 1 will run Sunday, January 25 - Friday, February 6, 2026.
This tour will span a full 12 days on the famous and well-travelled northern Colombia birding route including Barranquilla, the Santa Marta Mountains, the ProAves Preserves of El Dorado and Perija, the flamingo sanctuary at Camarones and more! The Santa Martas host a bevy of endemic species including Blossomcrown and Woodstar hummingbirds, an antpitta, a brush finch, the endangered Santa Marta Parakeet and more. We will not only be looking for the endemics but for other species such as Scarlet Ibis, Vermillion Cardinal, Northern Screamer, Wattled Jacana, Dwarf Cuckoo, Russet-throated Puffbird, White-tipped Quetzal, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Golden-breasted Fruiteater and so many more jewels!
I have a Colombian guide that will make all of the tour arrangements and travel with us to show off the wonders of Colombia! The itinerary will be finished soon and sent to those that are booked on the first departure. If you are interested in the 2nd departure, let me know and I will get an itinerary to you when it becomes available!

Photo is of the endangered Santa Marta Parakeet.

Stay tuned for details on this trip. We will be joining Audubon of Kansas during their spring Prairie-Chicken festival. This festival offers field trips, a keynote speaker and evening socials. This trip will run for about a week…from Tuesday, April 7 to Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

***I do not have the exact date of this festival at this time, so it could run the following week (April 14-21, 2026). Please keep both weeks open until further notice if you plan to join this trip.

Pre-dawn field trips will offer views of Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens as the males gather to dance on their leks to impress the girls. Other field trips offered during the weekend will include the famous Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira NWR. Species we hope to see at these locations include Franklin’s Gull, Cinnamon Teal, Baird’s Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, and Yellow-headed Blackbird. My scouting trip in April 2023 yielded a flock of 6 Whooping Cranes!
Additional trips to Smoky Valley Ranch and Little Jerusalem Badlands will offer opportunities to see Ferruginous Hawk, Say’s Phoebe, Rock Wren, and Harris’s Sparrow.
As with any BOS Travel Trip, please email Alec at alechumann@msn.com if you are interested to get on the participant list!

This tour does not yet have dates set. I am currently aiming to run this tour late June into early July.

Target birds are MANY, but Montana is a large state! Our tour will cover a wide range of habitats in western MT including spruce forests of the Bitterroot Range, high sagebrush valleys, short grass prairie and pothole wetlands. Yes, Great Gray Owls nest in Montana and that will definitely be a target species - why freeze your tuchus off at Zax-Sim Bog in February?!

Our group will fly in/out of Missoula where we will spend our first three nights. After that we hop around between Dillon, Helena, Harlowton, and Great Falls.

Other birds of interest include but limited to...Dusky Grouse, Black Swift, Long-billed Curlew, Goshawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Williamson's Sapsucker, Lewis's and Three-toed Woodpeckers, Prairie Falcon, Pinyon Jay, Dipper, Sprague's Pipit, several finches, 2 longspurs, Brewer's, Baird’s and Sagebrush Sparrows, MacGillivray's and Townsend's Warblers, Lazuli Bunting and more! Yes, we will also try for Great Gray and Flammulated Owls.

Photo is of a Lewis’s Woodpecker.

UPDATE 8/7/24…this trip is now full at 8 participants. A waiting list has been started.

Well, I never thought I would be even considering a birding trip to New Zealand, BUT HERE WE ARE! This is an incredible opportunity to bird New Zealand with one of her native sons and past BOS member, Brent Stephenson! Brent lived in the Buffalo area for a few years before moving to Vermont with his wife, Lisa.
This trip is a ways out and Brent and I are still figuring out the logistics but the 2-week itinerary will embark on or around January 18, 2027. The group will plan to arrive a day before the tour begins (Jan 17) to give us a day to adjust to the loooong travel day and time zone difference! This trip will be limited to 8 participants and the land-based portion of the trip will cost about $6500 (this includes all lodging/meals/guiding/travel within country/multiple pelagics/ferry rides) plus your airfare. It is a trip worth saving for and you have a good two years to do so!
Details and itinerary will be added here over the next few months…
In the meantime, if you are considering this trip, you may want to order Brent’s book “Birds of New Zealand: A Photographic Guide” by Scofield and Stephenson. I just ordered mine off of Amazon! You have 2.5 years to study….GO!

White-capped Albatross squabbling over squid off Dunedin, New Zealand.