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 14, 2010:
The Sunday bird walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo.
The morning was cloudy and the winds were bitterly cold.
Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets caught our attention when
they were singing at different times during the morning. A raft of
Buffhead, Barrow's Goldeneye, Harlequin Duck, Red-breasted Merganser and
Common Merganser were in the protection of the bay at Sunset Beach. A
Glaucous Gull and a pair of Pigeon Guillemots were not far from shore.
Small rafts of Pacific Loon, Common Loon and Common Murre were further
offshore.
Ten hardy birders found the following forty species of birds:
Canada Geese, Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant, Brandt's Cormorant,
Pelagic Cormorant, Wood Duck, Buffhead, Barrow's Goldeneye, Harlequin
Duck, Wood Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Merganser, Bald Eagle, Mew
Gulls, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous Gull, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull,
Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Northern Flicker,
Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northwestern Crow, European Starling,
American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chestnut-backed
Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Bewick's
Wren, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin and
Dark-eyed Junco.

Saturday March 13:
Twelve Evening Grosbeaks are visiting feeders along Butler Road in
Parksville.

Friday March 12:
A Glaucous Gull was again spotted among California Gulls, Thayer's Gulls and
Glaucous-winged Gulls in the grassy area at the Community Park in
Parksville.

A Turkey Vulture was spotted above Sunshine Ridge in Nanaimo.

Thursday March 11:
Two Cackling Geese, eighteen Northern Shovelers and a Snow Goose were seen
in with over seven hundred Canada Geese at Quennell Lake in Cedar.

Wednesday March 10:
A Glaucous Gull was seen in with a large flock of California Gulls,Thayer's
Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls along the grass area at the Community Park
in Parksville.

Tuesday March 09:
The first reported male Rufous Hummingbird of the season was spotted at
feeders in the 4100 block of Gulfview Drive in Nanaimo.

The Tuesday Bird Walk started in Rathtrevor Provincial Park but we were
quickly convinced by the brisk winds to go to the more protected beach at
Parksville Community Park. Before we left Rathtrevor we did spot twelve
Trumpeter Swans.
The morning was cloudy with a strong southeast wind.
We were greeted at the Parksville Bay by an estimated one thousand Brant
Geese and at least one hundred thousand gulls--Bonaparte's Gulls, Mew Gulls,
California Gulls, Herring Gulls,Thayer's Gull, Western Gulls,
Glaucous-winged Gulls. We had good close looks and were able to compare the
yellow legs, black wingtips and short yellow bill of the Mew Gull with the
deep yellow legs, black wingtips and bright yellow bill with a bright red
and black marks of the larger California Gull who are in their clean crisp
breeding plumage. Greater Scaup, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter,
Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merganser
were seen further offshore. A flock of Black-bellied Plover and Dunlin left
the gravel bar in a large cloud flew south down the Strait of Georgia. A
Pigeon Guillemot, one Pacific Loon and one Common Loon were seen off the
tip of the hovercraft landing pad at the north end of the Bay. We saw two
male Yellow-rumped Warblers, one Song Sparrow and three White-crowned
Sparrows on the bushes near the RV Park at the north end of the Bay.
Eleven birders saw and heard the following thirty-five species of birds:
Canada Goose, Brant, Trumpeter Swan, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern
Pintail, Greater Scaup, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Common
Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Pacific Loon, Common
Loon, Horned Grebe, Pelagic Cormorant, Bald Eagle, Black-bellied Plover,
Black Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Bonaparte's Gull, Mew Gull, California Gull,
Herring Gull,
Thayer's Gull, Western Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Pigeon Guillemot,
Northwestern Crow, American Robin, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Song Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow.

Monday March 08:
A Turkey Vulture was seen soaring over south 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
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Guest Speaker-Colin Bartlett, topic Birds and Bees in the Backyard.
Monday March 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
**********************************
The Nanoose Naturalists
Thursday April 08, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
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 the Shelly Road
side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville.
We meet the Parksville Beach Community Park at the parking area near the
Lions
playground at 9 A.M. or at the end of Shelly Road (ocean side of highway
19a) at about 9:15 A.M.
*****************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on March 21, 2010, will be going to the Nanaimo River
Estuary in south Nanaimo.
Meet at the Birdstore at 9:00 A.M. or at the end of Raines Road at about 9:
30 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