The Razorbill was seen well yesterday from the parkette on Front
Street overlooking the mouth of the Niagara River in
Niagara-on-the-Lake. It took about 15 minutes before locating it at
9:45 a.m. Many people saw it afterwards throughout the morning. The
warm weather and clear conditions were perfect for viewing, but a
scope is essential. During the hour that we watched, it dived
frequently, coming to the surface briefly between dives. It stayed
under about 45 seconds. After feeding actively for 30 minutes, it
spent about three minutes preening and resting, and it sat higher on
the water with its tail cocked. Several times it rose up rapidly
flapping its stubby wings. This behaviour is also habitual among some
sea birds such as eiders, possibly because it helps prevent feather
icing and/or re-arranges wing feathers used in swimming under water.
To find the Razorbill, search the area on a line between the green
channel buoy out in the lake and the American fort, where the calm
water interfaces with the current. It often feeds near other birds
such as ducks and Bonaparte's Gulls.
Seeing a Razorbill, a bird of the cold North Atlantic, on Lake
Ontario is thrilling. It likely entered Lake Ontario by following the
St. Lawrence River. The closest Razorbills breed on islands between
Quebec City and Tadoussac. It is an extremely rare but regularly
occurring alcid on Lake Ontario. Bob Curry (2006) in the Birds of
Hamilton (2006) lists nine records dating back to 1891 for Hamilton.
Razorbills do well on fresh water, unlike petrels and shearwaters,
which have specialized diets of salt water prey not available on the
Great Lakes, so they starve. Razorbills survive well on fish.
Razorbill and Great Auk: While watching the Razorbill we reminded
ourselves that we were seeing the closet living relative of the
extinct flightless Great Auk, last seen in 1844. Great Auks wintered
at sea, ranging widely. We imagined ourselves 250 years ago watching
a Great Auk feeding at the mouth of the Niagara River. This seems
unlikely, but consider the following. Seals and other sea animals are
still seen occasionally near Montreal, which is as far as they can
get now because of power dams. Before dams were built on the St.
Lawrence River, there were records of Harbour Seals on Lake Ontario.
If a seal could reach Lake Ontario, then a powerful swimmer such as
the Great Auk, which could fly through the water like a penguin,
might have too. Birders love to dream.
Taxonomy: Strauch (1985) recommended that the Great Auk be put in the
same genus Alca with the Razorbill because of their close
morphological relationship.
References:
Curry, Robert. 2006. The Birds of Hamilton and surrounding areas.
Published by the Hamilton Naturalists' Club. We highly recommend this
book to all birders.
Strauch, J. G. Jr. 1985. The phylogeny of the Alcidae. Auk 102:520-539.
Ron & Jean
Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway
OFO News Editors
Ontario Field Ornithologists
9 Lichen Place
Toronto ON M3A 1X3
416-445-9297
www.ofo.ca
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
