Subject: [Tweeters] Nanaimo bird alert
Date: Feb 1 15:26:55 2009
From: The Backyard - thebackyard at shaw.ca


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 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 February 01, 2009:
" Rare bird alert--Northern Hawk Owl"
The Northern Hawk Owl along the Morden Road in south Nanaimo has been seen
everyday since Saturday January 24, 2009 and is still in this same area
today.

The Sunday bird walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo. On a very windy
winter stormy morning eleven hardy birders found the following twenty-six
species of birds: Horned Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant,
Mallard, Harlequin Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted
Merganser, Common Merganser, Bald Eagle, Black Oystercatcher, Spotted
Sandpiper, Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Northern Flicker, Northwestern
Crow, Common Raven, American Robin, Varied Thrush, Chestnut-backed
Chickadee, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Spotted Towhee, Song
Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and Pine Siskin.

Saturday January 31:
Nine California Quail, House Finch, Chest-backed Chickadees, Dark-eyed
Juncos, Spotted Towhee and a partial albino American Robin were seen in the
1600 block of Bowen Road in Nanaimo.

A collard Trumpeter Swan was spotted along Cowichan Bay Road in Duncan.

A Snow Goose was spotted at Somenos Marsh in Duncan.

A flock of Canada Geese, Trumpeter Swans and seven Killdeer.ere spotted at
the Westhaven Farm off highway one and the Crofton exit.

Wednesday January 28:
A Northern Harrier was spotted at the Nanaimo River Estuary in south
Nanaimo.

Tuesday January 27:
The Tuesday Bird Walk went to the Little Qualicum River Estuary. Seven
birders saw and heard thirty-eight species of birds. The winds were brisk,
the surf was up and rolling into shore and there were some snow flurries
through-out the morning.
The highlights of the morning included the sighting of six Trumpeter Swans
and four Great Blue Herons resting in the estuary when we arrived. Two
Common Murres raced down the Strait of Georgia just above the water . There
were large flocks of Greater Scaup, Harlequin Ducks, Surf Scoters,
White-winged Scoters, Black Scoters and Bufflehead not far from shore. We
saw several species of Gulls including hundreds of Mew Gulls, a Ring-billed
Gull, fifty Thayer's Gulls, six Western Gulls, hundreds of Glaucous-winged
Gulls and two Glaucous Gulls. Further offshore we spotted a Red-throated
Loon, four Pacific Loons, three Horned Grebes, a Red-necked Grebe and a
Brandt's Cormorant riding the strong waves. We spotted a Red-tailed Hawk
perched on a tall tree across the estuary.

Seven birders found the following thirty-eight species of birds.
Canada Goose, Trumpeter Swan, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail,
Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged
Scoter, Black Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser,
Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Loon, Pacific Loon, Horned Grebe,
Red-necked Grebe, Brandt's Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle,
Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone, Mew Gull,
Ring-billed Gull, Thayer's Gull, Western Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull,
Glaucous Gull, Common Murre, Northern Flicker, Northwestern Crow,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Song Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco.

A Snow Goose was seen at Somenos Marsh in Duncan.

A Male Eurasian Wigeon was seen with over seventy American Wigeon at the
Parksville Community Park in Parksville.

Monday January 26:
"Rare bird alert- Northern Hawk Owl"
A Northern Hawk Owl has been spotted along Morden Road in south Nanaimo.
The owl is a rare sighting on Vancouver Island, however can be seen east and
north of the interior of British Columbia, as well as across the rest of
Canada.

A Red-breasted Sapsucker, a Downy Woodpecker and Northern Flickers were seen
along Vista View Crescent in the Rocky Point area of Nanaimo.

An Anna's Hummingbird is visiting feeders in the 7200 block of Aulds Road in
Nanaimo.

A Peregrine Falcon was seen in the 1600 block of Brierly Hill in Nanaimo.

Sunday January 25:
Eight Steller's Jays, six Varied Thrush, Song Sparrows, Chestnut-backed
Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos and a Pileated Woodpeckers are visiting feeders
along Pheasant Terrace in the Diver Lake area of Nanaimo.

A sharp-shinned hawk landed on a window awning in the pre-100 block of
Prideaux Street, near the Millstone River 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 February 12, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Guess speaker Gary Kaiser will present a programme on the Marbled Murrelet.
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monday January 26, 2009 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.
**************************************************************
The Tuesday Bird Walk on February 03, 2009 will be going to the Shelly Road
side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville.
Meet at the Parksville Beach Community Park near the parking area at the
Lion's
Playground at 9:00 A.M.
Or meet at the end of Shelly Road on the oceanside of Highway 19A at about
9:10 A.M.
*******************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on February 08, 2009, will be going to Nanoose Bay.
Meet at the Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or meet behind the Church camp off
highway 19 and Arlington Road at about 9:20A.M.
*******************************************************
Good birding
Neil Robins
Nanaimo