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 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 Bird Walks 2009:
We visited the following sites on the Sunday Bird Walks in 2009:
Morden Colliery Historic Park
Hemer Provincial Park
Beck Creek
Nanaimo River Estuary
Neck Point Park
Buttertubs Marsh
Bowen Park
McGregor Marsh
Linley Valley
Morrell Wildlife Sanctuary
Legacy Marsh
Nanoose Bay
Beaver Ponds at Nanoose Bay
Rathtrevor Provincial Park
Shelly Road side of the Englishman River Estuary
Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary
Springwood Park
Columbia Beach
The Little Qualicum River Estuary.

The number of participants varied (usually depending on the weather!) from
five to forty birders, with an average of fifteen birders per walk. We saw
and heard the following 160 species of birds:
Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
Brant
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Sanderling
Pectoral Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Bonaparte's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Great Horned Owl
Northern Hawk Owl
Barred Owl
Short-eared Owl
Black Swift
Vaux's Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Northern Shrike
Cassin's Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Steller's Jay
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Saturday December 26:
A large flock of American Robins was seen along Queen Elizabeth Walkway near
Newcastle Avenue in Nanaimo.

A Mute Swan with two young was seen at Lantzville Beach off Sebastion Road
in Lantzville.

Tuesday December 22:
The Tuesday Bird Walk went to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in Qualicum
Beach. The morning was sunny with a cool breeze off the choppy sea.
At the beginning of the morning, we spotted six Long-tailed Ducks and twelve
Horned Grebes from the viewing platform off of Highway 19A. There were
thirteen Great Blue Herons on the estuary. One lone Killdeer flew noisily
past us. A large raft of singing Black Scoters were not far from shore and
a Huge flock of Gulls were seen near the horizon. The highlight of the
morning, however, was the sight of forty-four Trumpeter Swans at the mouth
of the Qualicum River.
Four birders saw and heard the following forty-two species of birds.
Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Trumpeter Swan, Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon,
Mallard, Northern Pintail, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter,
White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Common
Goldeneye , Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Pacific Loon ,
Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant,
Pelagic Cormorant,
Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Black
Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone,
Dunlin, Mew Gull, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Thayer's Gull,
Glaucous-winged Gull, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Song Sparrow,
Golden-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird and House
Finch.

Sunday December 20:
A Bald Eagle was spotted landing near a pond and then bathing in the pond
along Hammond Bay Road past the new development on Nottingham Drive in
Nanaimo.

Saturday December 19:
A Eurasian Collared Dove is visiting feeders in the 5200 block of Dunster
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 January 14, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monday January 25, 2010 at 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
**********************************
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.
**************************************************************
There will not be a Tuesday Bird Walk on December 29.
The Tuesday bird walks will resume on January 05, 2010.
*****************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on January 03, 2010, will be going to Buttertubs Marsh
in Nanaimo
Meet at the Birdstore at 9:00 A.M. or at the parking area at Buttertubs
Marsh off Bowen Road at about 9:15 A.M.
*******************************************************

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us at
The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store...
Colin, Carlo, Tyler, Neil, Carol, Jessica, Denise, Lexi and Marilynne

Good birding
Neil Robins

THE BACKYARD
Wildbird & Nature Store
6314 Metral Drive, Nanaimo, BC V9T 2L8
250.390.3669
250.390.1633 fax
thebackyard at shaw.ca
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG---> www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com