To report your sightings
please phone the Store at 390-3669
or e-mail us at thebackyard at shaw.ca
or call the Bird Alert at 390-3029
Post your sightings on these sites:
www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bcbirdingvanisland/messages
Check out the Audubon site for the Christmas Bird Counts.
http://www.Audubon.org/bird/cbc/hr/

Please remember, when reporting a sighting, to leave your name and phone
number, along with the date and location of your sighting.

Sunday January 20:
A Merlin was seen chasing a large flock of Pine Siskins in the 2500 block of
Glenayr Crescent in Nanaimo.
Over fifty Trumpeter Swans were seen at the Ugly Dwarf Meadows in Nanoose
Bay.

Saturday January 19:
Two Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen at suet feeders in the Harwood area of
Nanaimo.
A lone Steller's Jay was spotted along Hamilton Avenue and Sixth Street in
the Harewood Area of Nanaimo.

Friday January 18:
A Varied Thrush was spotted at a ground feeder along Nanaimo Lakes Road
backing onto the Morrell Wildlife Sanctuary in Nanaimo.

Thursday January 17:
About 100 Pine Siskins, twenty Cedar Waxwings, Common Mergansers and four
Ring Necked Ducks were seen at Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo.
Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Downy Woodpecker and several Northern Flickers
are visiting feeders in the 3000 block of Northwest Bay Road in Nanoose Bay.

Wednesday January 16:
The Wednesday birdwalk went to the Englishman River Estuary, Plummer Road
side. Among the highlights were the sighting of a Red-Throated Loon in
winter plumage feeding on a fish and twenty-three Brant Geese in one flock
and six in another flock on the Strait of Georgia. Two Eurasian Widgeon's
and twenty-four Brant Geese were seen on the gravel bar from the viewing
tower on the estuary. One lone Cackling Goose ( a possible Richardson's
sub-species) was calling continually while swimming away from us at the
mudflats.
Four birders found the following fifty-nine species:
Canada Goose, Cackling Goose, Brant, Trumpeter Swan, Eurasian Wigeon,
American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Harlequin
Duck, Long-tailed Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Common
Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser,
California Quail, Red-throated Loon, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Horned
Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great
Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Merlin, Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone, Mew
Gull, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Common Murre, Downy Woodpecker,
Northern Flicker, Hutton's Vireo, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven,
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's
Wren,Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted
Towhee,Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, White-crowned
Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Purple Finch, Brewer's
Blackbird, House Finch, Pine Siskin and House Sparrow.

A Golden Eagle was seen sitting on a post right beside the road on the
Inland Island Highway about one kilometer north of exit 101 at the Buckley
Bay Road.

Tuesday January 15:
A Northern Pygmy Owl was calling near Beban Park in Nanaimo.
A Northern Shrike was seen at French Creek.
Six Bufflehead were seen at Long Lake near Highway 19a in Nanaimo.

Monday January 14:
Twenty Bushtits were spotted at a suet feeder near Buttertubs Marsh in
Nanaimo.

Sunday January 13:
Four Short-eared Owls, a Northern Shrike, a juvenile Chipping Sparrow,
twelve Golden-crowned Sparrows, a Sharp-shinned Hawk and several Western
Meadowlarks were seen at the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.
One hundred Pine Siskins, Anna's Hummingbirds and fifteen Purple Finches are
coming to feeders along Remora Place in Nanoose Bay.
Fourteen Trumpeter Swans, two Glaucous Gulls, one Red-necked Grebe and a
Wilson's Snipe were seen at the Nanoose Bay Estuary.
There was a sighting of a possible Rough-legged Hawk at Buttertubs Marsh in
Nanaimo.

For further information on these sightings or for help in identifying a
bird please call The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store
at (250) 390-3669
Toll Free at 1-888-249-4145
e-mail: thebackyard at shaw.ca
***********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monthly Meeting,
Monday January 28, 2008 at 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
**********************************
The Nanoose Naturalists
Monthly Meeting
Thursday February 14, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
The Wednesday Bird Walk on January 23, 2008 will be going to the Little
Qualicum River Estuary. We will meet at the Parksville Visitor Centre at
Highway 19A and Northwest Bay Road, near Craig Bay in Parksville, at 9:00 AM
or at the Viewing Tower in Qualicum Beach near Highway19a and Garrett Road
about 9:20 A.M.
**************************************
The Sunday Bird Walks will resume February 03, 2008
**************************************
Good Birding!
Neil Robins