From: Bruce M. Bowman To: GL,Cory Gildersleeve,Bill Sverdlik,Reg Baker,Macklin Smith,Carl Langefeld Subject: Niagara trip report (long) Copies to: birders@umich.edu,John Mills,Bill Murphy Date sent: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 00:45:13 -0500 Dear friends, Here's a Niagara trip report. Bruce ----------------------------- Niagara Falls birding trip We're back from some enjoyable birding on December 1-2, 2001, along the Niagara River. Three days of birding would have been better than two. (So what else is new?!) A third day on the Niagara might have turned up more, or a third day spent in Hamilton would have been good. Next time maybe I'll try for three days. A brief orientation: The Niagara River is about 40 miles long. It runs from Lake Erie on the south and empties into Lake Ontario on the north. Niagara Falls is at about the halfway point along the river. Birding is along Niagara Parkway, which hugs the river on the Ontario side. Access to the river on the New York side is not good, and this December the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls is closed (because of September 11?), so it wasn't convenient to go over for the Purple Sandpipers at Goat Island and Three Sisters Islands. Bill Murphy drove up from Indianapolis Friday afternoon and was waiting for me when I got home (Ann Arbor) from directing a bridge game. John Mills arrived at about 5:15, and we hit the road at about 5:30. John drove. Even counting half an hour to get through the traffic and checks at the Ambassador Bridge, it took us only five hours to get to the motel in Niagara Falls (the Sunset Inn, 5803 Stanley Avenue--inexpensive, clean, I recommend it). We got to bed right away and got up for an early breakfast Saturday morning. It turned out that the waffle house across the street wasn't open while we were there, so we walked another few steps to Cippy's breakfast joint. Big mistake. We went to Denny's, not Cippy's, on Sunday morning. We had four scopes, which was enough, as luck would have it, since there were three of us. (Don't go to Niagara without a scope--and long underwear.) On Saturday we started at the flow control gates, not far south of the Falls, and made all the stops while moving north to Niagara-on-the-Lake at Lake Ontario. On Sunday we started by driving south along Niagara Parkway to Fort Erie and Erie Beach. We then turned back north and hit all the stops along the river up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where we again watched thousands of Bonaparte's Gulls fly by in the hour before sunset. (They spend the night on Lake Ontario.) The weather was decent both days, although Saturday started out drizzly and windy. It was in the low to mid 40s both days--about 20 degrees higher and without the snow of my Niagara trip four years ago (December 12-13, 1997). Our primary stops, south to north (the recommended, and certainly best, direction for birding the river) were: Erie Beach Fort Erie flow control gates Dufferin Island (passerines) Engineerium (old Hydro) the Gorge (Niagara Falls) -- can skip the Whirlpool -- usually not worth a stop except for restrooms Sir Adam Beck Power Plant Queenston boat ramp Fort Mississauga, Niagara-on-the-Lake (Front St., ext. of Ricardo) Queens Royal Park, Niagara-on-the-Lake (Ricardo Street) Ricardo Street marina, Niagara-on-the-Lake The last three sites here are presented in north-to-south order since that's the order you want to make the stops; i.e., you want to be at the marina for the bonies flyby before dusk. The Engineerium is one of the best stops, but there's no parking there. You must park across the street at the greenhouse (fee required on weekends) or use the Falls parking, which is a longer walk but free if you get there early on Saturday or Sunday. Our group list is below. I got all but Black-headed Gull, American Goldfinch, and distant possible Snow Buntings. The Black-headed Gull would have been a lifer. Bill and John both saw it, but Bill said the look wasn't good enough to be a lifer anyway. It was among bonies flying by at Niagara-on-the-Lake. The other lifers I missed (which none of us saw) were a reported Black-legged Kittiwake and a Sabine's Gull. Both were at the Queenston boat launch, but not at either of the times we stopped there. There may have been a Thayer's reported somewhere. I got no lifers. If we had spent a day, or part of a day, at Hamilton, I would certainly have gotten some. Lifer birds there included kittiwake, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Barrow's Goldeneye, maybe something else. Other reported birds that we missed were California Gull (at Adam Beck), Lesser Black-backed Gull (south of the falls, I think). There may also have been a Red-necked Grebe. I think Glaucous Gull was reported, too, but at Hamilton, not anywhere along the river. We might have found more small gulls a week earlier--and more large gulls a week later. (We saw half a dozen Little Gulls and half a dozen Iceland Gulls.) We cruised right through customs in Detroit on the way home. Traffic was light, so there was no wait. We were asked for our passports on both legs of the trip. I don't know what kind of delay should be expected if you don't have a passport or birth certificate with you. We took the southern route on both legs, i.e., crossing over at Detroit/Windsor rather than Port Huron/Sarnia. (I'm told that the northern route is 20 miles longer but takes the same amount of time as the southern route.) We got onto 401 after crossing over the Ambassador Bridge and took it to Chatham and then London. At Woodstock we got onto 403. At Hamilton we got onto QEW, which took us to Niagara Falls. (At Niagara Falls get off at Exit 30, which is Road 420, rather than taking the 405 exit.) We used credit cards as much as we could so that we wouldn't be getting Canadian currency in change (can't spend it in the U.S.) and because you get the full exchange rate that way. (Merchants give you a little less.) The full exchange rate (today) is $1 Canadian = $0.635768 US or $1 US = $1.5729 Canadian. Merchants give $1.43 or $1.44. Bruce ---------------------------------------------------------------- Niagara River December 1-2, 2001 First Sighting MO DA YR SPECIES LOCATION 12 01 01 Red-throated Loon Fort Mississauga, N-o-t-L 12 01 01 Common Loon Ricardo St. marina, NotL 12 02 01 Tundra Swan Niagara River, south 12 01 01 Canada Goose rocks above falls, Niag. 12 01 01 American Black Duck Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 01 01 Mallard flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Gadwall Engineerium (old Hydro) 12 02 01 American Wigeon flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Canvasback Engineerium (old Hydro) 12 01 01 Ring-necked Duck flow control gates, Niag. 12 02 01 Greater Scaup flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Lesser Scaup flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Long-tailed Duck Engineerium (old Hydro) 12 01 01 Common Goldeneye flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Bufflehead Ricardo St. marina, NotL 12 01 01 Hooded Merganser rocks above falls, Niag. 12 01 01 Common Merganser Fort Mississauga, N-o-t-L 12 02 01 Red-breasted Merganser Niagara River, south 12 02 01 Sharp-shinned Hawk Fort Erie (Niagara River) 12 01 01 Red-tailed Hawk Sir Adam Beck Power Plant 12 01 01 Little Gull Engineerium (old Hydro) 12 02 01 Black-headed Gull Ricardo St. marina, NotL 12 01 01 Bonaparte's Gull flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Ring-billed Gull Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 01 01 Herring Gull flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Iceland Gull Sir Adam Beck Power Plant 12 01 01 Great Black-backed Gull flow control gates, Niag. 12 01 01 Rock Dove Engineerium (old Hydro) 12 02 01 Mourning Dove Niagara River, south 12 01 01 Belted Kingfisher Ricardo St. marina, NotL 12 01 01 Red-bellied Woodpecker Paradise Grove, N-o-t-L 12 01 01 Downy Woodpecker Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 01 01 Blue Jay Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 01 01 American Crow rocks above falls, Niag. 12 01 01 Black-capped Chickadee Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 01 01 White-breasted Nuthatch Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 02 01 European Starling Niagara River, south 12 01 01 Northern Cardinal Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 02 01 Song Sparrow Fort Erie (Niagara River) 12 01 01 Dark-eyed Junco Dufferin Island, Niagara 12 01 01 Snow Bunting Ricardo St. marina, NotL 12 02 01 House Finch Niagara River, south 12 02 01 American Goldfinch Erie Beach, nr Fort Erie 12 01 01 House Sparrow Queenston boat launch ============ Total = 44 ============