At Steve Taylor's prompting I will try to clarify what some of the landmarks are that have been mentioned in the various posts and text messages that have been sent about the Brown Booby.
The tower - this is the tower at Erie Basin Marina where birders have seen the booby from most frequently. It is at the very end of Erie St. Donnelly's pier (aka Donnelly's breakwall or breakwater) - this is a long concrete wall with a large sand spit at one end. Visible to the west of the tower, a few hundred yards away. Cormorants love to gather on the sand spit, as well as on the wall itself. The wall and sand spit can be seen on Google Maps. Note that there are other breakwalls to the southwest of the tower, which might be worth searching as well as an obvious breakwall to the north of the tower. The red-roofed structure (aka the water intakes) - obvious structure several hundred yards out into the lake, west (or perhaps west southwest) of the tower. The Reef Lighthouse (aka the metal structure or metal tower) - fairly obvious decrepit structure well out into Lake Erie and not very far from the water intakes. Cormorants love to sit here. LaSalle Park - waterfront park just a little north of the tower. The booby was seen to fly right along the shore at this park while birders were looking from the tower. There is a breakwall offshore from most of this park, which is visible to the north from the tower. The Peace Bridge - international bridge crossing near the beginning of the Niagara River. The Booby has flown under this bridge a couple of times. Railroad bridge - international railroad bridge crossing about a mile downriver from the Peace Bridge. The booby was seen sitting on one of the piers of this bridge on Monday - photographed by Jim Pawlicki. The old fort - this is in Fort Erie, Ontario. Across Lakeshore Road from the old fort is a parking area where birders have managed to see the booby on Donnelly's pier (a very long way away!). For the most immediate information on the whereabouts of the booby, birders may wish to sign up for wnybirds text alerts. As of 10:00 this morning, there have been no reports to wnybirds today. Given the distances usually involved with searching for this bird, a spotting scope is extremely helpful if not a necessity. Good birding! Willie ------------------ Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com http://www.betsypottersart.com <http://www.betsypottersart.com/> 2013 Big Year: http://www.betsypottersart.com/willie-s-photos/2013-big-year/ Big Year List: http://www.happtech.com/BigYearDanna/CurrentList/ShowCurrentListTable.aspx Odenates: http://www.betsypottersart.com/willie-s-photos/dragonflies -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
