WEDNESDAY BIRD WALK, FEBRUARY 27, 2008

PELAGIC CORMORANT: RALPH HOCKEN PHOTO

The Wednesday Bird Walk went to Rathtrevor Provincial Park in Parksville. Seven birders found forty-two species of birds. Among the highlights were the sightings of fifteen different flocks of Common Murres, with fifty to sixty Murres in each flock, heading down the Strait of Georgia. A flock of about one thousand Dunlin made a brief appearance for us all to have a look at them and two Black Oystercatchers stopped on the tide line about twenty feet from us. The Brant Geese are beginning to arrive. We saw about two hundred of them during the morning walk.

The Backyard Wildbird & Nature Store's weekly bird walk in the Parksville/Qualicum Beach area is on Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m. Participants meet at the Parksville Visitor Centre at Highway 19A and Northwest Bay Road in Parksville at 9:00 A.M. Snow, rain and/or heavy winds will deter us--but we will plan a walk for every week. Everyone is welcome to bring their binoculars and join us for a morning of birding. For the weekly location of the birdwalk, please call Neil Robins at (250) 954-1928 or the Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store at (250) 390-3669.

We saw the following forty-two species:
Brant
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Bald Eagle
Black-bellied Plover
Black Oystercatcher
Dunlin
Mew Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre
Northern Flicker
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch