At 12 noon today Mary Schuster, John Nishikawa and myself had a nice view of the Razorbill (thanks to the group who called us over.)
The location was the same as below, but closer to the pink chair. Rob Miller Toronto, Ontario -----Original Message----- From: Chris Escott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:13:03 To:ONTBIRDS <[email protected]> Subject: [Ontbirds]Razorbill Still At Niagara 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 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdshow.htm ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
