The RAZORBILL was seen today from about 2:00pm until 3:35pm by myself,
Hugh Currie and Pete Read.
I arrived at the parkette (on the Canadian side) overlooking the mouth
of the river at about 7:30am and was joined soon afterwards by Pete
Read. Pete showed me to the viewpoint below Fort Mississauga from which
we think yesterday's birders had close views of the Razorbill and we
spent the next few hours there seeing more than half a dozen each of
RED-THROATED LOON and HORNED GREBE but no Alcid. The NE wind was
creating sizable waves, not to mention frozen fingers and toes, and two
fishing boats were trawling back and forth along the "rip" line, as I
call it - the band of chop and (in some spots) calm water where the
river outflow meets the lake. The green buoy mentioned in yesterday's
posts, about 150-200 m offshore and just slightly beyond the "rip", was
easily seen from this viewpoint. I thought I had seen the target bird in
the early morning swimming just to the right of the green buoy, and
later on in the morning Pete thought he saw it fly along the "rip" from
left of the buoy to half way between the buoy and the U.S. side, but
neither of us was really convinced.
Pete headed off to check the gulls upstream around 12:30 and Hugh Currie
joined me at the viewpoint below Fort Mississauga, making a coffee run
an hour later. Just as he returned, shortly after 2:00pm, the RAZORBILL
appeared from nowhere, sitting on the water about 50 m offshore from us
and slightly left of the green buoy. Hugh and I had a couple of quick
close-up looks as the bird bobbed up on the waves, and it was gone.
Several minutes later I spotted it almost out at the "rip" just right of
the green buoy. A few minutes after that it flew to the east/right, to
about half way between the green buoy and the U.S. side, splashed down
and disappeared. After trying in vain to relocate the bird for more than
half an hour, Hugh headed up to the parkette where he met up with Pete.
I arrived there around 3:15pm, a few minutes after they had just refound
the bird mid-river just beyond the "rip". We saw it again a couple of
times in the next 20 minutes as it drifted to the left in the waves just
beyond the "rip", diving a lot and visible only briefly. I'd noticed
earlier as some large balloons floated downstream that there seems to be
a counter-clockwise current west/left along the "rip" then back upstream
along the Canadian side -- it seemed like the bird was going with this
flow in the waves just beyond the "rip", maybe curling in closer to the
Canadian shoreline, then flying back towards the U.S. side to start all
over again. We last saw it at 3:35pm.
On the water, the Razorbill's colouring is dramatic - very black on the
back, neck and top half of face, and very white on flanks, chest, throat
and lower half of face. Pete noted similar contrast when the bird flew,
black above and white below. Even at long distance this colouring is
striking.
Directions:
The parkette overlooks the mouth of the river a short distance upriver
from the golf course -- this is where most birders stop on a Niagara
River day. The viewpoint below Fort Mississauga can be found as follows:
From the golf course clubhouse (at the south end of the golf course,
nearest the parkette) drive north beside the first fairway until the
road turns left, and park there. Look for the signboard and gravel path
leading to Fort Mississauga (the red brick boxy structure at the far
side of the golf course, where the river enters the lake). Before
reaching the fort, walk over the grass to the right, behind the putting
green for the first hole, and look for a gravel ramp down the wooded
slope to the walking trail at the water's edge. Half way along this
trail (about 50 m) is a wide gap in the trees where you get a great view
of the green buoy (if you get to the pink wing-backed chair another 50 m
further on, you've gone too far!). This is where we had brief close-up
views of the Razorbill.
--
Christopher J. Escott
1 Shouldice Court, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M2L 2S3
Home phone: 416.444.8055 Cellular 416.788.8055
