Subject: [Tweeters] Nanaimo bird alert
Date: Mar 30 16:55:44 2008
From: The Backyard - thebackyard at shaw.ca


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

Check out the birdstore blog.
www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com

Post your sightings on these site:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bcbirdingvanisland/messages

Birds of British Columbia:
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/SpeciesChecklists.html

International Birdwatching Guides
http://www.guidedbirdwatching.com

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

Sunday March 30:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo. The outstanding highlight of the morning was the sighting of three Virginia Rails and we heard the call of a Sora. We saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers, Tree and Violet-green Swallows hawking insects and three Turkey Vultures soaring high in the sky.
Seventeen birders found the following forty species of birds:
Canada Goose, Mallard, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, a Pied-billed Grebe, Wood Duck, Glaucous-winged Gull, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Virginia Rail, Sora, American Coot, Rock Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Downey Woodpecker, Common Raven, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallows, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Bushtits, Brown Creepers, Winter Wren, Bewick's Wren, Marsh Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Purple Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

A Pileated Woodpecker is visiting suet feeders along Boundary Crescent in Nanaimo.

Saturday March 29:
A Rufous Hummingbird, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, two Pileated Woodpeckers, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, California Quail, Pine Siskins are frequenting a yard along Lancewood Avenue in Lantzville and two Barred Owls are calling at night.

Over 5,000 Barrow's Goldeneye's in two hugh rafts were seen just outside Boat Harbour south of Cedar.

Wednesday March 26:
The Wednesday Bird Walk went to Rathtrevor Provincial Park in Parksville. Ten birders found forty-five species of birds. The highlights of the morning included the sighting of our first Turkey Vulture of the season. We saw steady streams of Black, Surf, White-winged Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks flying up and down the Strait of Georgia. There were approximately six hundred Brant Geese feasting on the eel grass along the tide line. A large raft of Red-breasted Mergansers and Long-tailed Ducks were seen not far from shore. There were
several Red Crossbills on the beach just in front of us and Golden-crowned Kinglets kept us entertained as they hawked insects on the low bushes along the forest trails.
Ten birders found the following forty-four species:
Brant, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Brandt's Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Black Oystercatcher, Mew Gull, California Gull, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Common Murre, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Bewick's Wren, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, Varied Thrush, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Purple Finch, Red Crossbill and Pine Siskin.

A Pileated Woodpecker is visiting suet feeders along Pheasant Terrace in Nanaimo.

Tuesday March 25:
A partial Albino American Robin was seen at Deep Bay.

Monday March 24:
Over fifty Violet-green Swallows, a Northern Shrike, a Greater Yellowlegs and seven Western Meadowlarks were seen at the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.

Both Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds are coming to feeders in the 4600 block of Lost Lake Road in Nanaimo.

Saturday March 22:
A Rufous Hummingbird has returned to feeders along Gary Oaks Drive in Nanoose Bay.

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 March 31, 2008 at 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
**************************************
The Nanoose Naturalists
Monthly Meeting
Thursday April 17, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Everyone is welcome to join us for a 2-3 hour bird walk on the Sunday and Wednesday mornings. We leave from the Store at 9 A.M. Sunday Mornings and go to a different location in and around Nanaimo and from the Parksville Visitor Centre in Parksville at 9 A.M. Wednesdays and go to different areas in and around the Oceanside area.
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The Wednesday Bird Walk on April 02, 2008 will be going to the Englishman River Estuary, Plummer Road side in Parksville. We will meet at the Parksville Visitor Centre at Highway 19A and Northwest Bay Road, near Craig Bay in Parksville, at 9:00 A.M. or at the corner of Plummer Road and Shorewood Drive at about 9:10 A.M.
*****************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on April 06, 2008, will be going to the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo. Meet at the Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or at the end of Raines Road at about 9:30 A. M.
**************************************
Good Birding!
Neil Robins
Nanaimo







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