What do Long-tailed Jaegers eat in Ontario? A week full of surprises

It was a very exciting week for me with all sorts of pleasant surprises wherever I went.

To start things off, on Sunday, Ken, my Dad and I were headed down to Holiday Beach IBA for the annual Hawk Festival. We left Waterloo in the dark but hadn't even made it to the 401 when we had our first surprise of the day. Just as we were getting off Hwy 8 I noticed a raptor sitting on a light post. Without thinking much I said "hey there's a red-tail". But as I looked at the bird a bit longer I realized that's not what it was. I pulled onto the shoulder of the ramp and put my bins on it and was surprised to see this:

Yep, a Snowy Owl - on September 13! I think it is more likely that this is a lingering bird from the big irruption last winter rather than an early fall migrant. We don't expect them until November at the earliest. Last year there were a couple of lingering Snowy Owls in Hamilton and on Amherst Island through the summer, so it does happen but it sure is a surprise to see!

With our spirits high from our surprising find we continued towards Holiday Beach. Before arriving we knew we were in for a good hawk flight as the conditions were perfect (clear with a brisk NW wind) and we were already seeing Sharp-shinned Hawks flying over the fields we were passing. We weren't the only ones thinking the same thing as the turnout was excellent:

And here's what everyone was watching:

A kettle of Broad-winged Hawks

That's right, nice big kettles of Broad-winged Hawks. They really got going at about 11 am and were still going strong when we left at 2. In any given year 2-6% of the world population of Broad-winged Hawks funnels through Holiday Beach, and usually a big chunk of those birds pass through in a few key days. The day's tally was over 7000, or about .5% of the world population! Needless to say we weren't disappointed, or even that surprised since the conditions were perfect. What was a surprise though was a dark morph Broad-winged Hawk that we saw go over with a group of "normal" (light morph) broad-wings in the afternoon. That was my first ever and Ken's second.

Our highlight, however happened just before noon. I was waiting by the classroom to get organized for a presentation I was to give when Jeremy Bensette and Emma Buck came walking over. As we were chatting I looked up to see a line of broad-wings passing overhead through a gap in the trees. I lucked out because as I put my binoculars up I noticed a heavily marked, slightly larger, and longer wings buteo overhead - "I've got a Swainson's Hawk!". Jeremy got it right away and even snapped a couple photos. It was an Ontario bird for both of us. I phoned Ken since he was on the tower and I wanted to make sure they got the bird too - he answered the phone with "juvenile light or intermediate morph!" then hung up. Pretty sweet!

And we had one more surprise fly over that day from the tower:

American White Pelican

That was Sunday. Through the week I was busy with some great staff meetings at Bird Studies Canada's headquarters in Port Rowan. A Say's Phoebe was found near Rondeau but a chase was not in the cards for me.

But my biggest surprise came yesterday, when I was at Erica's childhood home for some birthday parties. I checked my email in the morning and saw that Parasitic Jaeger had been found feeding in a field just 10 minutes to the north. I filed the information away thinking I'd go have a look later in the day. My phone promptly died so I didn't think too much more about it. Then, Erica's brother texted her to say he had spotted a crowd of birders checking something out at the spot so Erica and I went for a drive. When we got there we found out that it was actually a Long-tailed Jaeger - much rarer, and probably a first county record. At first it was a bit distant but eventually it started flying around feeding around the field, sometimes flying within 5 metres of us. At one point it landed, caught and ate a worm about 10 metres away from us. Absolutely amazing views of a bird that I have only ever seen way out on Lake Ontario off of Hamilton.

Now that's a sweet yard bird!

Can't be too many shots of this species with a silo in the back

Yes, that's a worm!

Needless to say, before the week started if you had told me I'd see a Snowy Owl, Swainson's Hawk, dark morph Broad-winged Hawk, and a worm-eating Long-tailed Jaeger I would have asked you if you'd hit your head!

A little twitch

Last Tuesday (2 June), Ben Di Labio found a Little Egret along the Carp River outside of the town of Carp. Birders arrived quickly from nearby and most local birders go to enjoy the bird until just before dusk when it flew north. It was seen again first thing on the morning of 3 June before flying west along the Carp River.

Little Egret is an old world heron that has colonized some of the Lesser Antilles and is showing up more frequently on the northeast coast of North America. Even though it is increasing it is still VERY rare in North America (an ABA code 4) and this will be a new species for Ontario, bringing the list to 491 assuming the OBRC accepts the report.

Unfortunately, at the time, I was working down at Long Point. Normally I would have been 1.5 hours away from this location (probably more like 1 hour for such a rare bird :)) but instead I was more like 6 hours so a trip was out of the question. The earliest I could try would be the next Monday (8 June).

There was no word on the bird for several days so it appeared the bird was gone, until a report on Sunday (7 June) afternoon from Mike Norkum, some 14 km southeast from Carp. It was reported again briefly on the morning of 8 June at this same location (but there were several reports that turned out to be Great Egrets) and finally it was pinned down at a small pond in the Carp River floodplain in Kanata (10 km from the first sighting).  I hit the road, picked up Mike Runtz on my way, and a little over an hour later was enjoying fine views of this sweet bird!

First look with a Great Egret for size comparison

Check out those yellow feet and blue lores

A good shot showing chest plumes

One more!

The Little Egret spent its time feeding actively while we were watching it, mostly stalking prey (it caught many small fish as we watched), but we also observed it regularly stirring the water with its feet. This behaviour is well-known, particularly by foraging Snowy and Little Egrets and may take advantage of the brightly-coloured feet/toes to either scare up or attract potential prey. Check out this paper from 1959 to read more about it. Or, you can check out the video I took to see for yourself:

Identification of Little Egret from the North/South American Snowy Egret can be tricky but the presence of two long head plumes, blue-grey lores, long, distinct breast plumes and a few other features all help seal the deal for this bird as Little Egret. David Sibley has a good page on these identifying features and there is a great ID essay here.

The history of this species in the Americas is very interesting - it first appeared in Barbados in 1954 when found by James Bond and was first documented nesting there in 1994. For a full history and overview of the species in the Caribbean, check out this article on eBird Caribbean. And if you still want more background information on this species, check out the species account on the IUCN's Heron Conservation website.

Here's hoping it gets found again for more people to enjoy!

Kingston Lark Sparrow

On this warm spring evening Erica and I were pulling in to our local mini putt establishment when I got a text message from Mark Read that read "Just found a Lark Sparrow at Lemoine Point.". Yep, he didn't even include an exclamation mark. So, with less than an hour of daylight left, we headed for Lemoine Point.

As we arrived we could see Mark and fellow Kingston birder James Barber up ahead on the path, faithfully keeping an eye on the prize:

So there it was. We all enjoyed this rare bird from the mid-west before it eventually flew into some nearby pines to hopefully spend the night.

As mentioned above, Lark Sparrow is primarily a bird of the central US, regularly reaching into Canada in southern BC and the southern prairies. It is also rare but regular in southern Ontario with up to about 5 records per year. It is a species that could be expected here more often in years of extreme drought in the core of its range, like this year. This must be one of the earliest spring arrivals of this species in Ontario - the only earlier date I could find was one on 10 April 2010 from Pelee Island - most records fall in late April or early May.

The great thing about seeing this bird was that it meant two rare birds in Frontenac County in two days after Mark and I found this wayward White-crowned Pigeon on Wolfe Island yesterday. 

White Ibis in Napanee!

This morning I got a text message from Mark Read, who collects bird sightings for the Kingston Study Area on behalf of the Kingston Field Naturalists. It had details that a juvenile White Ibis had been seen in Napanee. Re-reading the text now it alludes to the fact that I was expected to already have known about this bird and once I got home and checked the Ontbirds archive I see why - Terry Sprague had reported the details first thing this morning. For some reason his Ontbirds post never made it to my inbox (and not even into my spam folder...strange, but luckily Mark sent me the text...).

Anyways, I jumped in my car and made it to the spot where it had been reported and there it was!

juvenile White Ibis in Napanee, Lennox and Addington

Here's my post to Ontbirds:

Jeff Haffner found a young White Ibis this morning at 7 am in Napanee. I arrived at 935 and found it in roughly the same location. However, while I had my glasses off trying to get a phonescoped photo it disappeared. I didn't see it move but when I couldnt find it in my scope and put my glasses on I couldn't see it. I wasn't looking down for long so I don't think it flew but rather walked around a bend in the creek and out of sight. I did manage a couple photos that I will post on my blog when I get home.

Directions. Get off the 401 at exit 579 and go south to Jim Kimmet blvd and turn right (west). Just before the Wal-mart there is a bridge over the creek. Park before the bridge but be sure not to block the fire hydrant. The bird was north of the bridge in the creek before the bend.

Will post if I can refind it.

I should clarify that it wasn't Jeff Haffner who originally found it. Apparently (according to Terry Sprague) it was Robert Lane who found it on SUNDAY (24 August). I'm kind of glad that I didn't see Terry's post though since it sounded from his message like the bird had disappeared and I might have waited until someone re-found it.

White Ibis is a really great bird in Ontario, with just five previous records accepted by the Ontario Bird Records Committee. And of those, only one of them stayed in one place for more than a day. Here are the previous records as published by the OBRC:

1. 1, juvenal, 27 September 1970, Point Pelee National Park, Essex. Found by Joseph P. Kleiman, T. Dennis Coskren, Dennis F. Rupert, Alfred H. Rider, Jeffrey A. Greenhouse, William W. Smith, Norm Chesterfield, Ray Knight
2. 1, second-year, 12-30 (but only seen 12-14 and 29-30) October 1990, Turkey Point, Norfolk. Found by John Lamey
3. 1, 27 June 1998, Pelee Island, Essex. Found by Ethan J. Meleg, David Hodare
4. 1, juvenal, 3-6 October 2009, Whitby (3 October), Durham and Prince Edward Point (6 October), Prince Edward. Found by Harvey Gold, Daniel S. Kaczynski, Karl Jennewein
5. 2, first alternate, 11 May 2012, Long Point (Old Cut), Norfolk. Found by Stuart A. Mackenzie, Fanny Senez-Gagnon

Anyone who has traveled to the US southeast knows that White Ibis are abundant there, so it's always a bit surprising to me that we don't get more of them here, especially given the propensity for northward post-breeding dispersal by herons in general. It seems likely that this bird made its way north on the same system in the last week or so that has brought at least 2 Snowy Egrets, a Eurasian Collared-Dove, a Violet-green Swallow, and an Ash-throated Flycatcher to southern Ontario (not to mention the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that's still around). What else it lurking out there to find?

Here's my favourite shot of a White Ibis (this is an adult) from a trip to Florida several years ago. I'm still blown away by it!

White Ibis in Kissimee, Florida

Lark Bunting on Amherst Island

Amherst Island is a well-known birding spot for many people. Most people know it as an amazing place to come see winter owls and it also hosts globally significant concentrations of waterfowl, for which it is designated an Important Bird Area. But the island is also a great spot for another group - grassland birds. A trip at this time of year will yield dozens of Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks and scattered Upland Sandpipers at a few places. It's really a nice time to visit! And if that's not enough this is one of the best places in Ontario to see Wilson's Phalaropes which nest at the Kingston Field Naturalists' Martin Edwards Reserve.

Wilson's Phalaropes at the Martin Edwards Reserve

As of yesterday you can add another reason to visit Amherst Island - a Lark Bunting has been found! Sherri Jensen found it last Thursday and word made it to the broader birding community yesterday. So after work I picked up James Barber and Erica and we made the trip out. We weren't disappointed as he popped up onto the telephone wire and started singing basically as soon as we got out of the car.

Most of the time the bird spent in the field but flew up several times to sing from an exposed perch.

Lark Buntings don't throw their head back when singing like most sparrows, but rather lean forward.

Having never heard a Lark Bunting in person before but it was striking to hear how similar this bird's song was to that of a Northern Cardinal. Check it out in the video below:

Anyways this was a pretty cool little bird. Normally, Lark Buntings are found in the grasslands of central North America - Ontario has 29 records accepted by the OBRC to date. This is my second in as many years having twitched one near Clarendon in northern Frontenac County last May.

Connecticut Warbler (from late May)

On May 25 Ken and I birded Long Point which was a pretty good day (see the report here) - as we were coming back to my parents place my Dad texted us to let us know that Ted Cheskey had found a Connecticut Warbler in the north end of Waterloo - a really good bird for inland southern Ontario. So after dinner I went out to try my luck. After wandering around for a good 45 minutes I finally came to the spot that fit the description of where Ted had found the bird earlier in the day and after a short wait a Connecticut Warbler started singing not 10 metres in front of me!

Now if you know much about Connecticut Warblers you'll know they can be notoriously hard to see and this one was no different. For a good 20 minutes the bird sang loudly directly in front of me but despite slowly getting closer and closer (to just a few metres!) I couldn't see it....I finally decided it was time to try a different tactic, so I put my binoculars up and tried scanning the thick vegetation where the bird was singing. Almost immediately the bird decided it was time to move about 20 metres away. Luckily, it continued singing non-stop so I restarted my search to see the songster. I crept closer and closer until it sounded like it was head height about 5 metres away, but I still couldn't see it! There was an apple tree between me and where I thought it was so I decided it was time for desperate measures - crawling. I got on my hands and knees and slowly crawled another metre or two closer and finally I got sight of some movement.

As you can see, he continued singing even after I finally located him visually. It occurred to me that I should try to capture the sound so I switched over to video mode and managed one song before he decided he had had enough of this human crawling around following him!

This is probably the first video or song recording of a Connecticut Warbler in Waterloo Region and one of very few documented records there at all. As far as I am aware the only other photo/video/audio records are of one or two banded individuals at rare on the Grand River in Cambridge. Connecticut Warblers tend to be more common during fall migration but their skulky nature make them very difficult to find at that time of the year (when they are silent).

It's rarity season

We've started into what is arguably one of the most exciting times of the year for birding in Ontario. It's exciting because over the next week or two we should see about 1/3 of our Ontario bird species arrive back into the province. But from a birding perspective it is also really exciting because this is one of the best times of the year to find rare birds. Just check out this list from the last week or so:
Greater White-fronted Goose in Durham, Lambton, Dufferin, Kawartha Lakes, and York
Eurasian Wigeon in Durham, Elgin, and Ottawa
Eared Grebe in Chatham-Kent
Cattle Egret in Essex
Snowy Egret in Perth
Swainson's Hawk in Hamilton
Black Vulture in Northumberland and Essex
Marbled Godwit in Essex
A very early Acadian Flycatcher in Essex
Fish Crow in Hamilton and Toronto
Bell's Vireo in Middlesex
Worm-eating Warbler in Essex
Yellow Palm Warbler in Essex
Yellow-throated Warbler in Essex and Niagara
Prairie Warbler in Niagara and Norfolk
Blue Grosbeak in Perth
Spotted Towhee in Toronto
Yellow-headed Blackbird in Ottawa and Norfolk
Painted Bunting in Muskoka and Ottawa (sight report submitted to OBRC)

(species in bold are OBRC review list species)

remember this guy from last year?

And that's just the one's I know about, I'm sure there are more out there plus even more that haven't been found yet. We're prime time for all sorts of rarities, including a Swallow-tailed Kite, like the one I saw last year.

And there are lots of goodies outside of Ontario too, with European Golden-Plover and Black-tailed Godwit in Newfoundland today and a Willow Ptarmigan in New York.

Anyways, that's a pretty nice list from the past week, what will the next weeks bring? It looks like we won't be back to south winds until the 29th when we should get the next push of birds, but the nice thing about this time of year is birds move in pretty well any conditions. On schedule for the next week are the following birds:

27 April -	Wilson's Phalarope
	White-eyed Vireo
	House Wren
	Marsh Wren
	Northern Waterthrush
28 April -	Sedge Wren
	Grasshopper Sparrow
30 April -	Common Gallinule
	Dunlin
	Chimney Swift
	Red-headed Woodpecker
	American Pipit
	Black-and-white Warbler
	Nashville Warbler
	Kentucky Warbler
	Black-throated Green Warbler
01 May -	Eastern Whip-poor-will
	Warbling Vireo
	Wood Thrush
	Gray Catbird
	Ovenbird
	Blue-winged Warbler
	Orange-crowned Warbler
	Hooded Warbler
	Lincoln's Sparrow
	White-crowned Sparrow
	Rose-breasted Grosbeak
02 May -	Ruby-throated Hummingbird
	Least Flycatcher
	Eastern Kingbird
	Yellow-throated Vireo
	Veery
	Golden-winged Warbler
	Prairie Warbler Blackburnian Warbler
	Orchad Oriole
	Baltimore Oriole
03 May -	Great Crested Flycatcher
	Prothonotary Warbler
	Common Yellowthroat
	Northern Parula
	Black-throated Blue Warbler
	Yellow-breasted Chat
	Clay-colored Sparrow
	Scarlet Tanager
	Indigo Bunting
	Bobolink
04 May -	Black-bellied Plover
	Semipalmated Plover
	Least Sandpiper
	Swainson's Thrush
	Cerulean Warbler
	Magnolia Warbler

That's a hefty list! Get out there and see what you can find!!!

The birding mecca of Perth County

We had our family Easter scheduled for Sunday in Stratford, in the heart of Perth County. Birding wasn't on the original schedule but as it happened several nice birds turned up nearby including:
-Eurasian Wigeon at Mitchell Sewage Lagoons (AKA West Perth Wetlands) found by Jarmo Jalava on 13 April
-Snowy Egret in St. Marys (posted to Ontario Birds Facebook group by Herman Veenendaal on 18 April)
-Blue Grosbeak outside of Russeldale found by Rita Christie on 18 April and reported to eBird

So, naturally we left a bit of time before dinner to try and find some of these. Our first stop was Mitchell Sewage Lagoons, where we didn't find the Eurasian Wigeon but did find Josh and Barb (and a Horned Grebe). Here's our full list.

Muskrat at Mitchell

Josh, Barb and Brett Fried and Erika Hentsch were unsuccessful in finding the Snowy Egret earlier in the morning so our next stop was Rita and Ron Christie's place.

When we arrived Ken and Josh were pretty confident they saw the bird fly out of the crab apple and then disappear behind the house. A few minutes later I saw a bird that I was pretty sure was it fly by again, but we still hadn't nailed it down for sure (or even knew if it was still around). After about an hour of waiting it finally showed in the top of a crab apple before heading for the feeder:

It came back a few a minutes later for another look before we headed out:

We were pretty excited to see such a rare bird in Perth County. Apparently this would be record early for Ontario (the next earliest is one last spring at Ojibway Park found on 19 April 2013)

Henslow's Sparrow at Pelee and more

Ken and my Dad and I were heading down to Pelee for the day to do some long weekend birding. We were excited to see the report on Ontbirds that Chris Gaffan had found a Henslow's Sparrow there last night.

While waiting to pay at the gate house we had our first highlight, a friendly Mink!

Mink

After a few stops outside the park we arrived at Delaurier Homestead trail where we ran into Josh - he hadn't seen the bird yet but after a few minutes of looking the bird hopped up into the open briefly:

Henslow's Sparrow at DeLaurier

While the bird allowed a few nice looks it spent most of it's time running through the grass like these guys are known to. It was amazing how it could disappear in the thatch. At one point we watched it look up at us, completley in the open (this year's grass isn't grown yet), then look down and dive into the grass and dissapear!! After we were satisfied, we walked the rest of the trail, picking up an early House Wren and a few other birds (full checklist). Just as we were coming back to where we had seen the Henslow's previously it flushed up again and allowed an even better look before doing its vanishing act into the grass

better shot of the Henslow's Sparrow

After Delaurier we checked Tilden's Woods (didn't get the Louisiana Waterthrush) and White Pine before leaving the park. Along Tilden's I saw my first few Red Admirals of the year. Be sure to enter any butterflies records you have into eButterfly or send them to the TEA's Ontario Butterfly Atlas.

My first Red Admiral of the year

On the way home we made stops at Hillman Marsh, Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons and then Laurel Creek in Waterloo. We finished the day with about 100 species in relatively little effort - gotta love this time of year!!

Thick-billed Murre in Kingston

Yesterday afternoon Janice Grant found a Thick-billed Murre on the Kingston waterfront. She called Mark Read who was able to confirm it as a Thick-billed Murre, follow it as it swam east along the lake shore and get a few local birders on it (side note, in two weeks Erica and I will become local birders in Kingston!). Mark posted to Ontbirds late in the day and not surprisingly many birders made plans to be there for first light.

I wasn't one of them because I had a meeting in the morning (which was cancelled due to the weather) but once the freezing rain cleared I made it out to try my luck before working the rest of the day from a local library.  Initially when we arrived my heart dropped a bit because there were only two birders present and all I saw were a couple of Common Loons in the harbour. However, a couple seconds later and I realized I was looking too far away - the bird was only about 20ft from the birders!

Needless to say, great views of this rare bird

I even took a short video - Erica's commentary sums it up:

Apparently, Thick-billed Murre used to occur semi-regularly on Lake Ontario in late fall/early winter but that hasn't been the case since the 1950s

The Birds of Hamilton by Bob Curry has a good summary of Thick-billed Murre in Ontario listing records from about a dozen years before the mid 1950s, some with fairly extensive "wrecks" of multiple birds.

[EDIT: Thanks to Glenn Coady for the following references if you are interested in Thick-billed Murre history:
Fleming, J.H. 1907. The unusual migration of Brunnich's Murre (Uria lomvia) in eastern North America. Proceedings of the IV International Ornithological Congress, pp. 528-543.

Hoyes Lloyd's review of the Birds of Ottawa:
Lloyd, H. 1923. The birds of Ottawa, 1923. Canadian Field-Naturalist 37: 101-115; 125-127; 151-156.
Lloyd, H. 1924. The birds of Ottawa, 1923 [conclusion]. Canadian Field-Naturalist 38: 10-16
Lloyd, H. 1944. The birds of Ottawa, 1944. Canadian Field Naturalist 58: 143-175.] 

However, since then there have only been two documented records for Ontario:
1995: 5-6 December, Deschenes Rapids, Ottawa River, Ottawa. Found by Bruce Di Labio
1998: 29 November, Burlington Ship Canal, Hamilton. Found by Robert M. Sachs, Sheila Bowslaugh, Eleanor Sachs, and Carl J. Rothfels

The Ottawa record apparently was originally identified as a Razorbill (pretty easy to do when it isn't at your feet!) and it wasn't realized what it was until the morning of December 6. Since many birders already had Razorbill on their Ontario lists many missed out on this bird even though it was technically chase-able. Even relatively local birders missed this bird for that reason because there was only a couple hours between when its real identity was realized and the time it disappeared [edit - according to an anonymous comment it was killed by a Gyrfalcon!!].

Brown Booby...yeeaAA!

Well, if there's one thing birders love it is a good wild goose booby chase! This crazy bird was found on Monday afternoon by Jim Pawlicki at Erie Basin Marina on the New York side of the Niagara River. (This is at the south end of the Niagara River Corridor IBA so please report all of your observation to eBird!)  A few lucky people saw it later that day (including in Canadian waters). Yesterday (Tuesday) I was able to get to Fort Erie for first light but had to leave mid-morning. I was a little bummed (to say the least) when I found out that I missed it later on but that's how it goes.  Luckily I had a second shot this morning and the bird obliged by doing a flyby heading upriver past my viewing location - thanks to Steve Charbonneau for picking it up! Apparently it was Steve's 400th bird for Ontario! It wasn't close enough for photos (but was closer than the reef tower) so here is a shot I took in Cuba of an adult female:

adult female Brown Booby from Cuba in 2006

The best photos and video of the bird I have seen were on the Nemesis Bird blog - check it out...they even have video! UPDATE - Jim Pawlicki et al. got out on a boat on the afternoon of October 9 and he got some stunners!!

This bird has already made the news media too - check out this story from the St. Catharines Standard, this clip from CHCH news, and a story on The Buffalo News.

Anyways, I wanted to give some tips for those that might try for this bird later this week or this weekend.

Be prepared:
First, if you have a smart phone be sure you are subscribed to Ontbirds and Genessee Birds - that way you'll know if anyone is seeing it on either side of the river.  You can also just check the listings on the web for those - Ontbirds archives and Genessee Birds archives.  If you are an Ontario birder, you need to know that Canadian cell service is pretty poor along the river so be prepared for American signals - consider a prepaid voice/data package from you regular cell phone provider so you can use the American signal without paying more than your binoculars (alternatively you can just wait until your next bill and try to get them to remove the charges since you didn't leave the country).

If you are going to be there in the morning, polarized sunglasses will help cut the glare from the sun, which unfortunately you will have to deal with. Of course, you need a scope as the bird has been mostly on the far side of the river. It has been quite cool both mornings - I've been happy to have a winter hat and gloves for the first hour or so of the day.

Know the bird's routine
It looks like a pattern is developing for this bird. Between 7:30 and 8:30 it has been seen between the red-roofed building and the Peace Bridge before heading towards the lake and disappearing for a long period of time. I think this bird roosts somewhere in this vicinity, gets up and flies around for a bit then goes somewhere to feed.  Then it seems like it comes back mid-afternoon (after 2 pm) and spends a lot of time resting on Donnelly's Pier for most of the rest of the day. It seems like later in the day is more reliable, but you might be less likely to get the bird in Canadian water (if you care about that!).

Know where to look
So far, almost all of the observations in Ontario have come from a small parking lot at Mather Park across from Old Fort Erie. From there you can see several key landmarks (as summarized by Willie D'Anna here).
-Mather Park parking lot - Ontario birders are parking here and viewing from this general area
-Erie Basin Marina tower - This is where a lot of American birders are watching from.  You can easily see this tower (and see if birders in it are getting excited!) through your scope from the Ontario side.
-Donnelly's Pier - This is the spot where the booby seems most likely to come to rest in the afternoon.  It has a big sand/gravel deposit
-Reef Lighthouse - 42.881273, -78.915133 (not visible on Google).  This is the old frame of a building on a big rock reef where cormorants like to hang out. On October 8 the booby was sitting here at dusk. This structure is in American waters but it is only about 50 m east of the international border.
-Red-roofed building - 42.879589, -78.915133 (not visible on Google). This is also known as the water intake building.  It is a good reference point when searching.

Here is the map (click here to open in new window) showing those locations.


Update: here are some distance measurements:
Mather Park to Donnelly's Pier (NW tip) = 1.95 km
Mather Park to Reef Lighthouse = 1.41 km
Mather Park to Red-roof Building = 1.72 km
Mather Park to Erie Basin Marina tower = 2.79 km
Mather Park to international border = 0.96 km (shortest distance, which happens to be in a straight line towards Erie Basin Marina tower)

Erie Basin Marina tower to international border = 1.83 km (shortest distance, which happens to be in a straight line towards Mather Park)
Erie Basin Marina tower to Donnelly's Pier (NW tip) = 0.93 km
Erie Basin Marina tower to Reef Lighthouse = 2.08 km
Erie Basin Marina tower to Red-roof Building = 1.88 km

If you're interested, here is a screen shot of a bit better resolution map showing the Reef Lighthouse and the red-roofed building with the international border shown:

The reef lighthouse (upper left), red-roof building (lower right) and international border

You can explore that imagery on MNR's make a topographic map tool, just be sure to turn on the
southwestern Ontario imagery layer and set the transparency to about 75% to be able to see the structures and the border.