Subject: [Tweeters] Nanaimo bird alert
Date: Mar 28 16:37:35 2010
From: The Backyard - thebackyard at shaw.ca


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 28, 2010:
The Sunday bird walk went to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River
Estuary in Parksville.
The morning was partly cloudy and quite windy, but the rains held off until
the walk was finished.
The highlights included seeing a large flock of Brant Geese. We watched two
pairs of Bushtits working on building their nest. We spotted a Barred Owl
perched on a tree near the end of the walk.
Twenty birders saw and heard the following fifty-two species of birds:
Snow Goose, Canada Goose, Brant, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail,
White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Surf Scoter, Greater Scaup,
Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Common
Loon, Pelagic Cormorant, Pacific Loon, Bald Eagle, Barred Owl, Northern
Shrike, Killdeer, Mew Gull, California Gull, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous-winged
Gull, Rufous Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Northern
Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven,
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's Wren, Winter
Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Bushtit, American Robin, Varied
Thrush, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Song
Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Purple Finch,
Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, Red Crossbill and Pine Siskin.

Twenty-five Trumpeter swans were seen in the far fields at the Ugly Dwarf
Meadows in Nanoose Bay

Black Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Surf Scoter, Long-tailed Ducks, Greater
Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Green-winged Teal, Brant,
Canada Geese, Mallards, American Wigeon, Eurasian Wigeon, Mew Gulls,
Bonaparte's Gull, California Gull and Glaucous-winged Gulls were seen
offshore at Shorewood Drive in Parksville.

Saturday March 27:
An American Kestrel was spotted perched on the hydro power lines at Ugly
Dwarf Meadows at Nanoose Bay.

Rufous Hummingbirds have been visiting feeders in the 3300 block of
Whitetail Place in Nanaimo for several days.

Thursday March 25:
A Eurasian Collared Dove was seen at Black Creek.

A Chukar was seen along Gary Oaks Drive in Nanoose Bay.

Tuesday March 23:
The Tuesday bird walk went to Columbia Beach. The morning was cloudy with
calm winds. We got close looks at Brant Geese, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup,
Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks that
were in four rafts of thousand upon thousand of seabirds not far from shore.
Three smaller rafts of Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye were just offshore.
We saw a raft of at least forty Pacific Loons, along with a Pigeon Guillemot
further offshore. We saw Black-bellied Plover, Black Turnstone and Dunlin
on the big rocks past the gravel bar near the Pebble Beach Townhouses. Two
Killdeer and four Black Oystercatcher along with about fifty Brant Geese
were resting on the gravel bar.
Eighteen birders saw and heard the following forty-one species of birds:
Canada Goose, Brant, American Wigeon, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup,
Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck,
Bufflehead,
Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Pacific Loon,
Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Pelagic Cormorant, Bald Eagle, Black-bellied
Plover
Killdeer, Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone, Dunlin, Bonaparte's Gulls,
Mew Gull, California Gull, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Pigeon
Guillemot,
Northern Flicker, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatch,
American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow,
White-crowned Sparrow, House Finch and House Sparrow.

Monday March 22:
A male Rufous Hummingbird is now sharing the feeder with Anna's Hummingbirds
that over-wintered in the 5400 block of Altavista Drive in Nanaimo.

Twenty to twenty-five Red Crossbills were feeding on Douglas Fir cones
along Harlequin Crescent in Nanoose Bay.

Very large rafts of Surf, White-winged and Black Scoters along with Greater
Scaup were seen off Neck Point 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
Guest Speaker: Bill Turner "The role of The Land Conservancy".
Thursday April 08, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monday April 26, 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 30, 2010 will be going to the Plummer 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 corner of Plummer Road and Shorewood Drive at
about 9:10 A.M.
*****************************************************
There will be NO Sunday Bird Walk on Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010.
The Sunday Bird Walk will resume on April 11.
*******************************************************
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