I arrived atop the tower at Erie Basin Marina on Buffalo Harbor at 8:40 this morning (Friday). I searched in the area of the spit at the end of Donnelly's pier for about 30 minutes without finding the eider. I looked elsewhere, then looked back again at the spit about 15 minutes later, and there she was near the north end. It is possible that she was in the area all along and perhaps underwater when I looked in her direction but I scanned the water near the spit so many times that I wonder if she came in from elsewhere. In any case, patience may be required to see this bird. It was a bit breezy on the tower this morning making my scope less stable than desirable.
DIRECTIONS: Erie Basin Marina is on the east end of Lake Erie along Buffalo's waterfront, labeled as such on Google Maps. The tower is at the end of the road. There is no elevator so you have to climb several flights of stairs. Look toward the obvious sand/gravel spit at the end of Donnelly's pier (labeled Horseshoe Reef on Google Maps). The eider has been seen resting on the sand/gravel spit and swimming in the vicinity. A scope is necessary to see the bird, as it is over a half mile from the spit to the tower. As Alec Humann has pointed out, optimal lighting is in the morning with the sun at your back. Note that Peter Yoerg looked for the eider for 1.5 hours before sunset last night and did not see it, noting that there were a lot of boats around, perhaps pushing it further out into the lake. Good birding! Willie ------------------ Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com Betsy's website: http://www.betsypottersart.com/ Willie's photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/107683885@N07/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
