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 September 13, 2009:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to Bowen Park in Nanaimo.
The morning was sunny, calm and very comfortable. Nine birders heard and saw
the following twenty-one species of birds: Mallard, Glaucous-winged Gull,
Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Anna's Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Hairy
Woodpecker, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee,
Golden-crown Kinglet, European Starlings, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown
Creeper, Bushtit, Bewick's Wren, Winter Wren, American Robin, Spotted
Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco and Pine Siskin.

We also saw a Painted Turtle and a River Otter on the Millstone River.

Thursday September 10:
An American Kestrel was perched on a hydro line along Stanford Avenue, over
looking a farm field in Parksville.

Tuesday September 08:
The Tuesday bird walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River
Estuary in Parksville. The morning was sunny and the winds were calm--a
great day to be birding. Among the highlights was the sighting of a Yellow
Warbler and an Orange-crowned Warbler gleaning insects from a short bush
near the trail. Overhead were four Black Swifts hawking insects. We saw
Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers and a Long-billed Dowitcher along the
mud flats at San Pareil. There were two Harlequin Ducks, Horned Grebes,
Red-necked Grebes, Common Loons, Bonaparte's Gulls, Ring-billed Gull,
California Gulls and Mew Gulls on the Strait of Georgia.

The most exciting highlight of the morning, however, was on the mud flats of
the estuary. There we saw a Pacific Golden-Plover, who is a rare fall
migrant along the Pacific Coast and who winters on Pacific Islands in
south-east Asia and Australia. Alongside the Pacific Golden-Plover was an
American Golden-Plover who is also a rare fall migrant, usually seen east
of the Rockies and who winters in South America.
Twenty birders saw and heard the following fifty-one species of birds--
Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal,
Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, Common Merganser, Common Loon, Horned Grebe,
Red-necked Grebe, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture,
Merlin,
American Golden-Plover, Pacific Golden-Plover, Semipalmated Plover,
Killdeer,
Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Bonaparte's Gull,
Mew Gull, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Common
Murre,
Black Swift, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker,
Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted
Nuthatch, Bewick's Wren, American Robin, European Starling, Orange-crowned
Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow,
Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin,
American Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

An Osprey flew over a water hazard at the Arrowsmith Golf Course; a Coopers
Hawk flew overhead and a Bufflehead was spotted on the water.

Sunday September 06:
Eight Turkey Vultures were seen fighting the wind over French Creek.

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
Monday September 28, 2009 at 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
**********************************
The Nanoose Naturalists
Thursday October 08, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
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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 September 15, 2009 will be going to Columbia Beach.
Meet at the Parksville Beach Community Park near the parking area at the
Lion's Playground at 9:00 A.M. or the parking area off Admiral Tryon
Boulevard at about 9:20 A.M.
*****************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on September 20 will be going to the Plummer Road side
of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville.
Meet at the Birdstore at 9:00 A.M. or at the corner of Plummer Road and
Shorewood Drive at about 9:30 A.M.
*******************************************************
Good birding
Neil Robins
Nanaimo
British Columbia