Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!ria!uwovax!33016_704
From: 33016_704@uwovax.uwo.ca
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Request for info: birding Niagara Falls
Message-ID: <7739.273d3659@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Date: 11 Nov 90 16:30:33 GMT
References: <310@kepsalu.edsdrd.eds.com>
Lines: 55

In article <310@kepsalu.edsdrd.eds.com>, gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) writes:
> I'm leading a small group of birders to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
> over Thanksgiving weekend (Fri, 11/23/90 - Sun, 11/25/90).  Nobody in 
> 
>    o What are the best spots in the general area and at what time of 
>      day are the birds most active in those spots?  I have an article
>      from Birder's World, but any first hand information from the net
>      would be appreciated.
> 
Information on birding the Niagara Region can be found in "A
Bird-Finding Guide to Ontario", Clive E. Goodwin, University
of Toronto Press, 1982  (ISBN 0-8020-6494-9)
 
Goodwin lists the 'hot spots' along the river, giving
directions as distances along the roadways.  There are three
pages of birding spots listed.
 
His trip starts east of Old Fort Erie, at Bardol Street at the
start of Lakeshore Road (3km from the Peace Bridge along the
Lakeshore Road at the end of the Queen Elizabeth Way and
Highway 3).  Essentially he follows the river and stops at
just about every place where it is possible to pull off the
road.
 
One of the best spots is above the Horseshoe Falls, just north
of the old power plant building, where waterfowl and gulls
mass.  Purple sandpipers can often be seen through a 'scope on
the rocks in mid-river.  Barrow's Goldeneye and King Eider
have been seen here.
 
A 'must' stop for gulls is the parking lot at the Sir Adam
Beck generating station.  Here you can look down on thousands
of gulls wheeling around above the outflow.  (Trying to
provide the location of THE white-winged gull can be
challenging!)  Lesser Black-Backed gulls have been seen easily
here -- standing on top of the buildings.
 
The sand docks at Queenston are another good spot, with Little
Gull and an occasional Common Black-Headed Gull being reported
here.
 
In Niagara-On-The-Lake, at the mouth of the river, dawn and
dusk feature a fly-by of large numbers of gulls and ducks as
they move in and out to feed on the lake.
 
Also, worth checking here, are the houses around Front Street
and Simcoe Street.  Many residents have feeders, and the
sheltered climate of Niagara often produces wintering Carolina
Wren, Tufted Titmouse, and Northern Mockingbird.  The first
breeding records for House Finches were noted here.
 
I hope you can locate a copy of Goodwin's book (wish I had a
scanner!) -- and that your group has an enjoyable trip.
 
Good luck.