Subject: [Tweeters] Nanaimo bird report
Date: Sep 19 14:59:08 2010
From: The Backyard - thebackyard at shaw.ca


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

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

Birding in Central and South America:
www.wildbirdtours.ca

Identify backyard birds:
National Geographic Bird Identifier Site
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/backyard-bird-identifier/

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 September 19, 2010:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River
Estuary. The morning was cloudy and cool with a breeze blowing off the
water.
Five birders including a visiting birder from Nova Scotia saw and heard the
following forty-one species of birds:
Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Mallard, Surf Scoter, Common Loon, Great Blue
Heron,
Bald Eagle, Barred Owl, Greater Yellowlegs, California Gull, Glaucous-winged
Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern
Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Cassin's Vireo, Steller's Jay, Northwestern
Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown
Creeper, Bushtits, Bewick's Wren, Pacific Wren, American Robin, European
Starling, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hutton's Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler,
Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Savannah Sparrow,
Lincoln's Sparrow Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, White-crowned
Sparrow, House Finch and Purple Finch.

Friday September 17:
"Rare Bird Alert"
A Juvenile Ruff was seen at Whiffen Spit in Sooke, on the west side of
Vancouver Island.

Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal,
Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Common Merganser, Pacific
Loon, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic
Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Merlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper,
Least Sandpiper, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker,
Cassin's Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Steller's Jay, Northwestern Crow, Common
Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's
Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling,
Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Spotted Towhee,
Cedar Waxwing, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Lincoln's
Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch, House
Finch and American Goldfinch were seen at the Plummer Road side of the
Englishman River in Parksville.

Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone,
Bonaparte's Gull, California Gull and a Thayer's Gull were seen along the
gravel bar at Pebble Beach.

A Red-breasted Merganser, a Greater Yellowlegs three Cedar Waxwings and a
Sharp-shinned Hawk were seen at French Creek.

A Steller's Jay was spotted along Country Hills Drive in Cinnabar Valley.

Thursday September 16:
Twenty-four Sandhill Cranes were seen flying down the Courtenay River
towards Comox Harbour.

A Wandering Tattler and four Black Turnstones were seen today near the point
at Neck Point Park in Nanaimo.

An Anna's Hummingbird and a Downy Woodpecker were seen on the Campus at
Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo.

A Sharp-shinned Hawk was spotted on a birdbath in a backyard along Hamilton
Avenue in Parksville.

Thirty Sandhill Cranes were seen, where the river meets the ocean south of
Courtenay off Highway 19A.

A Rufous Hummingbird is visiting feeders along Aulds Road and Arbutus Road
in Lantzville.

Tuesday September 14:
A Parasitic Jaeger was seen chasing four Common Terns on the Strait of
Georgia off Marine Drive near the Englishman River Estuary, Plummer Road
side in Parksville.

The Tuesday bird walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River
Estuary in Parksville. The morning was sunny and comfortable with calm
winds. We saw a Townsend's Warbler and a Yellow Warbler near the start of
the walk. But the big highlight of the morning was the sighting of two
Black-and-white Warblers in with a large mixed flock of Orange-crowned
Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-throated Gray Warblers, Bushtits and
Warbling Vireos as they moved along the river feeding in the bushes. We
watched the flock for about a hour and we were able to compare the
Black-and-white Warblers with the Black-throated Gray Warblers. Seeing the
fall migrants moving through the bushes along the river made for an
excellent morning of birding. We spotted a Pectoral Sandpiper on the edge
of the mudflats, near the viewing platform. Harlequin Ducks, Surf Scoters,
Common Loons, a Red-necked Grebe, a Double-crested Cormorant, a Pelagic
Cormorant, a Pigeon Guillemot and two Marbled Murrelet were seen on the
Strait of Georgia. We had great close looks at a male Anna's Hummingbird
near the end of the walk.
Sixteen birders saw and heard the following fifty-seven species of birds:
Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail,
Green-winged Teal, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, Common Merganser,
Ring-necked Pheasant, California Quail, Common Loon, Red-necked Grebe,
Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle,
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper,
Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, Mew Gull, California Gull, Glaucous-winged
Gull, Pigeon Guillemot, Marbled Murrelet, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted
Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Warbling Vireo, Steller's
Jay, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit,
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Bewick's Wren, American Robin,
European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Orange-crowned Warble, Yellow Warbler,
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Townsend's Warbler,
Black-and-white Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco,
Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch, House Finch.

Monday September 13:
The Wandering Tattler was seen again at Sunset Beach, Neck Point in Nanaimo.

Sunday September 12:
A Pileated Woodpecker was seen on a utility pole in the 600 Block of
Chestnut Street in Nanaimo.

Saturday September 11:
An Osprey, a Stellar Jay and a male Anna's hummingbird were seen from Sea
Otter Place in Nanoose Bay.

Friday September 10:
An Albino Robin was seen in the 700 block of Northumberland Avenue 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 meeting.
October 14th at 7 pm
in the Library on Northwest Bay Road.
**********************************
The Arrowsmith Naturalists meeting
Guest speaker--Dr. John Gunton "Geohazards of the Georgia Basin".
Monday, September 27th 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 September 21, 2010. will be going to Rathtrevor
Provincial Park in Parksville.
We will meet at the Parksville Beach Community Park, at the parking area in
front of the Lions Playground at 9 A.M. or at the main parking area at
Rathtrevor Park at about 9:10 A.M. Please note there is a parking fee for
the park.
**************************************************
The Sunday Bird Walk on September 26, 2010 will be going to the Nanaimo
River Estuary in south Nanaimo.
We will meet at The Backyard Bird Store 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