NANAIMO BIRD REPORT

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

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 May 02, 2010:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River
Estuary in Parksville.
The morning was cloudy but mostly calm with a light rain shower at the end
of the walk.
A flock of Dunlin, Western and Least Sandpipers landed on a log on the
mudflats giving us good looks. Several flocks of Brant Geese flew past. We
saw Bufflehead, Harlequin Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-necked Grebe,
Pied-billed Grebe, Pacific Loon, Common Loon on the Strait of Georgia.
Seventeen birders saw and heard the following forty-five species:
Canada Goose, Brant, Mallard, Bufflehead, Harlequin Duck, Common Merganser,
Red-breasted Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Pacific Loon,
Common Loon, Bald Eagle, Osprey, Turkey Vulture, Great Blue Heron,
Killdeer,Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, California Gull,
Glaucous-winged Gull, Band-tailed Pigeon, Rufous Hummingbird, Belted
Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Common Raven, Northwestern Crow, Violet-green
Swallow,
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Winter Wren, Varied Thrush, American Robin,
European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Black-throated Gray Warbler, Pacific-sloped Flycatcher, Spotted Towhee, Song
Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Purple Finch, Red
Crossbills, Pine Siskin and House Sparrow.

Saturday May 01:
A Ruffed Grouse, a Sooty Grouse and a Black-headed Grosbeak were seen on the
Westwood Ridges Trails in Nanaimo.

Thursday April 29:
Two Sharp-shinned Hawks were spotted over Mills Street near the Englishman
River Estuary in Parksville.

An American Kestrel was perched on the hydro line along highway 19,
overlooking the Ugly Dwarf Meadows at Nanoose Bay.

Wednesday April 28:
Ten male and female American Goldfinches are visiting feeders along Remora
Place in Nanoose.

Tuesday April 27:
The Tuesday bird walk went to Lot Ten, along the Little Qualicum River in
Qualicum Beach. The morning was cloudy with few rain showers but the wind
was calm. We spotted a Merlin chasing a Bald Eagle off it's perch at our
meeting place at Parksville Bay. At Lot Ten a Red-breasted Sapsucker flew
into our view and landed on a tall snag. We heard several Pacific-slope
Flycatchers, Cassin's Vireos and a Hutton's Vireo during the morning. We
saw and heard Orange-crowned Warblers, a Yellow-rumped Warbler and
Black-throated Gray Warblers gleaning insects high up in the Big Maple
Trees. A Turkey Vulture and a Sharp-shinned Hawk circled high above us at
the end of the walk.
Thirteen birders saw and heard the following thirty-six species of birds.
Canada Goose, Mallard, Common Merganser, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle,
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Band-tailed Pigeon, Rufous Hummingbird, Belted
Kingfisher, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker,
Pileated Woodpecker, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Cassin's Vireo, Hutton's
Vireo, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Violet-green Swallow,
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, Varied Thrush, European Starling,
Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler,
Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Purple Finch, American
Goldfinch and Pine Siskin.

Monday April 26:
Rare bird alert-"Say's Phoebe"
A Say's Phoebe was seen on driftwood stump down from Mills Street on the
Englishman River Estuary in Parksville. The Phoebe was seen for about thirty
minutes as it hawked insects and returned to it's perch on one of several
driftwood stumps. The stumps are not far from the Surfside RV Park in the
meadow area of the estuary down from Mills Street in Parksville.

Two Ringed Turtle-Doves were seen in a backyard along Piper Crescent in
Nanaimo.

120 Least Sandpipers, twelve Western Sandpipers, one Dunlin, two Greater
Yellowlegs, one Spotted Sandpiper, an American Pipit and a Northern Harrier
were seen at the Holden Creek side of the Nanaimo River Estuary.

Sunday April 25:
A Yellow Warbler was spotted visiting a backyard along Dawkins Lane in
Nanaimo.

A Yellow-headed Blackbird was seen along Loat Street in Nanaimo.

Saturday April 24:
Four Greater Yellowlegs were seen at the Little Qualicum River Estuary in
Qualicum Beach.

Thirty Black Oystercatchers were seen at the mouth of the Little Qualicum
River in Qualicum Beach.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler was spotted visiting suet feeders in the 300 block
of Stevenson Point in Nanaimo.

Friday April 23:
Four Golden-crowned Sparrows and American Goldfinch were seen along Dawkins
Lane in Nanaimo.

Wednesday April 20:
A Townsend's Solitaire was seen along Price Road in Parksville.

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-- Dr. John Gunton will speak on volcanoes, earthquakes and
other geo-hazards in the Georgia Basin
Thursday May 13, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
**********************************
Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monday May 24, 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 May 04, 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 on the oceanside of
highway 19a at about 9:15 A.M.
**************************************************
**PLEASE NOTE--THERE WILL NOT BE A TUESDAY BIRD WALK ON MAY 11, 2010**
The Tuesday bird walks will resume on May 18, 2010.
*****************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on May 09, 2010 will be going to Buttertubs Marsh in
Nanaimo.
We meet at The Backyard Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or at the parking area at
the end of Buttertubs Drive off Bowen 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