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 08, 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 owl is a rare sighting on Vancouver Island, however it can be
seen east and north of the interior of British Columbia, as well as across
the rest of Canada.

The Sunday Bird Walk went to Nanoose Bay. On a very calm but overcast
morning ten birders found the following thirty-four species of birds: Canada
Geese, American Wigeon, Horned Grebe, Pelagic Cormorant, Green-winged Teal,
Mallard, Northern Pintail, Bufflehead, Barrow's Goldeneye, Red-breasted
Merganser, Common Loon, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Mew
Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Thayer's Gull, Northern Flicker, Northwestern
Crow, Common Raven, Steller's Jay, American Robin, European Starling,
Red-wing Blackbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bewick's Wren, Golden-crowned
Sparrow, White-crown Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Spotted Towhee, House Finch,
Song Sparrow, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin.

A low flying Peregrine Falcon flew over the Backyard Wildbird and Nature
Store in Nanaimo this morning.

Saturday February 07:
A Barred Owl was perched in a California Red Cedar tree in a garden in the
400 block of Stewart Avenue in Nanaimo.

Friday February 06:
A Northern Harrier was seen over Woodthrush Place in Nanaimo.

Thursday February 05:
Six Evening Grosbeaks, Northern Flickers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Hairy
Woodpecker, Steller's Jays, Bushtits, Pine Siskins, California Quail, Varied
Thrushes, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos,
Red-breasted Nuthatches, House Finches and a Coopers Hawk have been visiting
a backyard in the Falcon Court area of Aerie Estates in French Creek.

Wednesday February 04:
Two Great-horned Owls were seen along Morrell Circle in Nanaimo.

A Northern Harrier, a Merlin and a Short-eared Owl were spotted at the
Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.

Tuesday February 03:
The Tuesday Bird Walk went to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River
Estuary in Parksville. Thirteen birders saw and heard forty-nine species of
birds. The winds and seas were calm and the sun was shinning. It was a
great day to be birding!
The highlights of the morning included the sighting of a flock of five
hundred Dunlin and a small flock of Black-bellied Plovers flying down the
Strait of Georgia. An Eurasian Wigeon was spotted among the American
Widgeons that were feeding near the shoreline, two Gadwall in the estuary
swam slowly away from us. We heard two Pileated Woodpecker calling close by
and then we watched as they flew over the river giving us a quick view. We
saw a Bewick's Wren and a Fox Sparrow in a low bush near the viewing tower.
A Cooper's Hawk was perched in a low bush and there were Golden-crowned
Sparrows in the nearby bushes. Two flocks of busy Bushtits and a flock of
Golden-crowned Kinglets flew by us in some low bushes next to the trail. We
saw a large number of Bald Eagles and Northern Flickers perched in the trees
throughout the walk.
Thirteen birders found the following forty-nine species of birds:
Canada Goose, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern
Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead,
Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser,
Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe,
Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Cooper's Hawk, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer,
Dunlin,
Mew Gull, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Downy
Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Steller's Jay,
Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit,
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's Wren, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
American Robin, Varied Thrush, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Fox
Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and House
Finch.

Sunday February 01:
Over twenty Bushtits were visiting suet feeders near Wild Place near
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
**********************************
The Nanoose Naturalists
Thursday February 12, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Guest speaker Gary Kaiser will present a programme on the Marbled Murrelet.
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monday February 23, 2009 at 7:30 pm.
Guest Speaker Pamela Wesley will speak about the invasive plant situation on
the Island.
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 Tuesday Bird Walk on February 10, 2009 will be going to the Rathtrevor
Provincial Park 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 main parking lot (the last parking
lot before the campground) at Rathtrevor Provincial Park at about 9:15 A.M.
"Please note there is a parking fee at Rathtrevor."
*******************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on February 15, 2009, will be going to the Nanaimo
River Estuary in south Nanaimo. Meet at the Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or meet
at the end of Raines Road at about 9:30 A.M.
*******************************************************
Good birding
Neil Robins
Nanaimo