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 March 07, 2010:
The Sunday bird walk went to Buttertubs March in Nanaimo.
The morning was cloudy, but winds were cold.
We saw our first Yellow-rumped Warblers, Violet-green Swallows and Tree
Swallows of the season--- spring is near! A Wilson's Snipe flushed out over
the trail as we walked by. A Northern Shrike perched across the fields from
us and eventually flew over and perched on a tall snag near the trail giving
us close up views. We saw both the male and female Anna's Hummingbirds.
The female was gleaning insects from the branch of a tree and the male was
perched close to the trail, giving us great views of his colorful gorget. A
pair of colorful Wood Ducks swam slowly past us.
Eighteen birders found the following forty-five species of birds:
Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Pied-billed Grebe, Bufflehead,
Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, California Quail, Virginia Rail, Wilson's
Snipe, Bald Eagle, Merlin, Northern Shrike, Glaucous-winged Gull, Rock
Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Common
Raven, Northwestern Crow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Brown Creeper,
Bewick's Wren, Marsh Wren, Belted Kingfisher, Anna's Hummingbird, American
Robin, Varied Thrush, European Starling, Violet-green Swallow, Tree
Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow,
Golden-crowned Sparrow, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, Dark-eyed
Junco and House Sparrows.

Saturday March 06:
Western Meadowlarks, Golden-crowned Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows,
White-throated Sparrow. Fox Sparrow,Red-tailed Hawk and Red Crossbills were
seen at the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.

Twenty Trumpeter Swans were spotted flying north over the 2500 block of
Glenayr Drive in Nanaimo. Anna's Hummingbird was feeding on hyacinth blooms
in the same yard.

Wednesday March 03:
Two Tree Swallows were checking Purple Martin nest boxes at Cowichan Bay.

Eight California Quail were feeding in a backyard in the 2500 block of
Glenayr Drive in Nanaimo.

The Wednesday Bird Walk this week visited Famosa Marsh and Mission Bay in
San Diego, California.
There were many highlights, pick a favorite. One exhausted (but ecstatic)
birder saw the following 77 species:
Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark?s Grebe,
Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret,
Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Brant, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard,
Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Lesser
Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Red-tailed Hawk, Clapper Rail, American Coot,
Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher,
Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser
Yellowlegs, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Black Turnstone, Sanderling, Western
Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Heermann?s Gull, Mew Gull, Ring-billed
Gull, California Gull, Western Gull, Caspian Tern, Elegant Tern, Royal Tern,
Forster?s Tern, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-masked Parakeet, Anna?s
Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, Horned Lark, Ruby-crowned
Kinglet, Bewick?s Wren, Marsh Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Bushtit, Western
Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, House Sparrow,
House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped
Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow,
Golden-crowned Sparrow, Brewer?s Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle.
Cheers
Graham Gillespie

Tuesday March 02:
The Tuesday Bird Walk went to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in Qualicum
Beach.
The water was turquoise blue with the Herring spawn. A huge raft of
thousands upon thousands of seabirds, including Brant Geese, Greater Scaup,
Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed
Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Barrow's Goldeneye were offshore at
the viewing platform in Qualicum Beach. Black-bellied Plovers, Black
Oystercatchers, Black Turnstones and Dunlin along with Mew Gulls, California
Gulls, one lone Herring Gull, Thayer's Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls were
roosting along the shoreline. A pair of Bald Eagles appeared overhead and
all the seabirds, shorebirds and gulls lifted in a spectacular display.
We saw an Eurasian Wigeon and a Northern Shoveler in among American Wigeon
feeding along the Little Qualicum River. Twenty-one Trumpeter Swans swam
lazily in the Estuary.
Thirteen birders saw and heard the following forty-eight species of birds:
Canada Goose, Brant, Trumpeter Swan, Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon,
Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Greater
Scaup,
Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed
Duck,
Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Common Merganser,
Red-breasted Merganser, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Horned Grebe,
Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle ,
Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone,
Dunlin,
Bonaparte's Gull, Mew Gull, California Gull, Herring Gull, Thayer's Gull,
Glaucous-winged Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Northwestern
Crow,
Common Raven, American Robin, European Starling, Dark-eyed Junco,
Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird and Red Crossbill.

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 March 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Guest Speaker, Guy Monty, topic Black Brant.
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Guest Speaker-Colin Bartlett, topic--The Birds and Bees in the Backyard.
Monday March 22, 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.
**************************************************************
The Tuesday Bird Walk on March 09, 2010 will be going to Rathtrevor
Provincal Park in Parksville.
We meet the Parksville Beach Community Park at the parking area near the
Lions
playground at 9 A.M. or at the main parking area near the beach at
Rathtrevor Park at about 9:15 A.M.
Please note there is a parking fee at the park.
*****************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on March 14, 2010, will be going to Neck Point Park in
Nanaimo.
Meet at the Birdstore at 9:00 A.M. or at the parking lot off Hammond Bay
Road at about 9: 20 A.M.
*******************************************************

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