The Backyard Wildbird & Nature Store
Nanaimo Bird Alert

To report your sightings
phone the Store at 250-390-3669
e-mail us at thebackyard at shaw.ca
call the Bird Alert at 250-390-3029

Also check the birdstore blog for the latest bird alerts and updates:
www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com

Post your sightings on this 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

Birdwatching contacts and information to find a local birder to go
birdwatching with:
http://www.birdingpal.org/

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

Sunday August 02, 2009:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River
in Parksville. The morning was sunny with a bit of wind to make it quite
comfortable.
the shorebirds are making their way back and the highlights included seeing
Sanderling, Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated
Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper and a Long-billed Dowitcher probing the mud
flats for their food. We watched a Willow Flycatcher hawking insects. We
saw three Common Loons, Surf Scoters, a White-winged Scoter, a Greater
Scaup, and a Black-bellied Plover fly low over the Strait of Georgia.
Sixteen birders heard and saw the following forty species of birds.
Canada Goose, Common Loon, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Greater
Scaup, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture,
Killdeer, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated
Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover, Long-billed Dowitcher,
California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Mew Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Rufous
Hummingbird,Rock Pigeon, Northern Flicker, Northwestern Crow, Common
Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Bewick's Wren, Willow Flycatcher,
Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Swainson's Thrush, European Starling,
Spotted Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, Red Crossbill, House Finch, Purple
Finch and American Goldfinch.

Tuesday July 28:
A Merlin perched for a long period of time on a fence in the Joanna Terrace
area near Diver Lake in Nanaimo.

Monday July 27:
A Wandering Tattler was seen at the mouth of French Creek. It left after a
few minutes heading east towards Parksville.

Six Common Nighthawks were seen flying over Meridian Way in Parksville.

Sunday July 26:
Twenty-three Common Nighthawks were seen overhead hawking insects as they
flew in a west direction over Stanford Avenue in Parksville.

Twenty-five Bonaparte's Gulls in breeding plumage, six Mew Gulls, twenty
Black Turnstones and twenty Surf Scoters were seen at the gravel bar at
Pebble Beach on Columbia Beach.

A Merlin was spotted chasing Dragonflies at McGregor Marsh in north Nanaimo.

Saturday July 25:
Fourteen Common Nighthawks flew over a house in the 2800 block of Kilpatrick
Road, off Jinglepot Road 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
**********************************
The Nanoose Naturalists
Thursday September 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monday September 28, 2009 at 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
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Everyone is welcome to join us for a 2-3 hour bird walk on the Sunday and
Tuesday 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 Beach
Community Park at 9 A.M. on Tuesdays and go to different areas in and around
the Oceanside area.
**************************************************************
The Backyard Wildbird & Nature Store's weekly bird walk in the
Parksville/Qualicum Beach area on Tuesday mornings will not be held during
the summer months. We will resume the Tuesday bird walks on September 01,
2009.
*******************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on August 09 will be going to Beck Creek in south
Nanaimo.
Meet at the Bird store at 9:00 a.m. or at the parking area near the entrance
to the Living Forest Campground on Maki Road (across from Southgate Mall) at
about 9:20 a.m.

*******************************************************
Good birding
Neil Robins
Nanaimo
British Columbia