This location can only be reached on foot. If you are following the Lake Ontario Shoreline Birding Hotspots route, the best staging point for hiking out to Port Weller East Pier is the Jones Beach car park.
From the Jones Beach car park, follow Broadway north. Just before the bend in the road, you will see the entrance to the George Nicholson Memorial Trail on your left. Follow the trail to Seaway Haulage Road and turn right (north). Continue walking north on Seaway Haulage Road until you reach the end of the East Pier (a distance of about 1.9 km).
You can return on the same path, or keep right on the west side of the pier and follow the George Nicholson Memorial Trail all the way back to the Jones Beach car park.
(An alternate staging point is the north end of Seaway Haulage Road, at the metal fence and gate before the St. Catharines Marina - Port Weller. Be sure to park along the side of the road so as to not obstruct any Seaway Authority vehicles from access through the gate).
(An alternate staging point is the north end of Seaway Haulage Road, at the metal fence and gate before the St. Catharines Marina at Port Weller. Be sure to park along the side of the road so as to not obstruct any vehicles from access through the gate).
During migration, this treed finger of land jutting out into Lake Ontario is a migrant trap. King Eider, Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers and Northern Gannet are seen with some regularity.
Many warblers including Kentucky, Connecticut and Hooded Warbler have been recorded here.
Rarities observed here over the years include Yellow Rail on 3 May 1995, Great Cormorant on 23 November 2002, Sage Thrasher 24-27 February 2006, Western Kingbird on 10 September 2007 and Northern Hawk-Owl on 1 December 2007.
Nearby, Happy Rolph's Bird Sanctuary may occasionally play host to interesting birds. To visit Happy Rolph's, return to Lakeshore Road and turn left. Travel 0.4 km east to Read Road and turn left. Proceed to the free parking lot at the corner of Read Road and Northrup Crescent.