NANAIMO BIRD REPORT
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To report your sightings
phone the Store at 250-390-3669
e-mail us at thebackyard at shaw.ca
call the Bird Report 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

Identify backyard birds:
National Geographic Bird Identifier Site

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, the species and location of your sighting.

Sunday July 25, 2010:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to Beck Creek in south Nanaimo.
The morning was sunny but there was a strong wind off the water. We observed
a great deal of activity around the Purple Martin nests on the estuary.
Many Turkey Vultures flew overhead throughout the morning.
Twelve birders saw and heard the following thirty-three species of birds:
Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, California
Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Band-tailed Pigeon, Rock Pigeon, Belted
Kingfisher, Rufous Hummingbird, Yellow Warbler, Northern Flicker,
Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Purple Martin, Barn Swallow,
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Bewick's
Wren, Bushtit, Golden-crowned Kinglet, European Starling, Swainson's Thrush,
Western Tanager, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Spotted Towhee, Song
Sparrow, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Red-winged Blackbird, House
Sparrow.

Two Osprey were seen in a nest at Bowen Park in Nanaimo.

Four Merlins have make their home on Sugarloaf Mountain in Nanaimo.

Saturday July 24:
Western Tanager, Black-throated Grey Warbler, Pacific-slope Flycatcher,
Swainson's Thrush were seen along with Belted Kingfishers and Northern
Rough-winged Swallows that are nesting in a sand cliff above the Little
Qualicum River in the Cedar Grove Campground in Qualicum Beach.

A Black-headed Grosbeak is a frequent visitor to feeders along Meridian Way
in Parksville.

Friday July 23:
Fifty-six Common Nighthawks and three Vaux's swifts flew by from east to
west over the 2500 Block of Glenayr Drive in Nanaimo.

A Semipalmated Plover, a Semipalmated Sandpiper along with several Western
and Least Sandpipers were seen at the mud flats on the Plummer Road side of
the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville.

Wednesday July 21:
A Vesper Sparrow, seven Turkey Vultures and two House Finch were heard and
seen over the Cassidy Airport in south Nanaimo.

Tuesday July 20:
Twenty-four Common Nighthawks were spotted flying over Northfield Road in
Nanaimo.

An Osprey was seen heading towards Westwood Lake in Nanaimo.

An Osprey was spotted in the pond at the bottom of the hill at Nanaimo North
Town Centre in north Nanaimo.

A large flock of over thirty Common Nighthawks was seen flying above the
Nanaimo Golf Club along highway 19A.

Over seventy Common Nighthawks and twenty Black Swifts were seen hawking
insects in a spectacular twinkling 'ballet' flight over the 2500 block of
Glenayr Drive in Nanaimo.

Monday July 19:
Turkey Vulture, Black Swift, Vaux's Swift, Rufous Hummingbird, Hairy
Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Hammond's
Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Cassin's Vireo, Hutton's Vireo,
Warbling Vireo, Northern Flicker, Steller's Jay, Northwestern Crow, Common
Raven, Purple Martin, Violet-green Swallow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee,
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's Wren, Winter Wren, Brown Creeper,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Swainson's Thrush, American Robin, Varied Thrush,
Black-throated Gray Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler,
Wilson's Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Western Tanager, Song Sparrow,
White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red
Crossbill, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, and Evening Grosbeak were seen
in the forest at Lot33 in Nanoose Bay.

Canada Goose, Merlin, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper,
Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull,
Pigeon Guillemot, Marbled Murrelet, Belted Kingfisher, Bushtit, European
Starling, Cedar Waxwing and Orange-crowned Warbler were seen on the Plummer
Road side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville.

A Wandering Tattler and a Marbled Murrelet were seen off Amphimite Point at
Tofino.

A Western Tanager was seen in a backyard at the northend of Gabriola Island.

Sunday July 18:
A Common Nighthawk was calling loudly, and hawking insects at close range
and made a few dramatic dives that produced wing-whistle as it pulled out
above Colbourne Drive in North Nanaimo.

A family of Merlin was spotted in a yard in Yellowpoint at Cedar.

Two Purple Martins were observed hawking bugs and scooping water near the
dyke and old observation tower. An Eurasian Collared Dove was seen perched
on a snag at the back of the trailer court at Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo.

An Eurasian Collared Dove has been seen among backyard trees along
Honeysuckle Terrace in Nanaimo.

Thursday July 15:
A Stellar's Jay was seen in a backyard at the east end of Lost Lake 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
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The Arrowsmith Naturalist meetings will resume in September, 2010

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The Nanoose Naturalists meetings will resume in September, 2010
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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.
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The Tuesday Bird Walks will resume on September 07, 2010.
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The Sunday Bird Walk on August 01, 2010 will be going to the Plummer Road
side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville.
We will meet at The Backyard Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or at the parking area
at the corner of Plummer Road and Shorewood Drive in Parksville at about
9:25 A.M.
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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