The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Nanaimo Bird Report

November 27, 2025
“EXPLORE NATURE” --- GO BIRDING:
To report your sightings phone the Store at 250-390-3669 or e-mail us at birding@thebackyard.ca. Please remember, when reporting a sighting to leave your name and phone number along with the date the species was seen and location of your sighting.
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Trumpeter Swan (J. Morrison)

Tuesday November 25, 2025:  

The Tuesday Bird Walk was canceled due to the weather.

Pacific Wren (J. Morrison)

Sunday November 23, 2025:

The Sunday Bird Walk went to Maki Road Trail located at the end of Maki Road in south Nanaimo. Weather was sunny and cool at 4C. A few highlights from the walk were a pair of Trumpeter Swans flying over and landing in the river. Northern Harrier was just across the river in the estuary hunting, and a Virgina Rail was calling in the marsh.

14 birders saw and heard the following 40 species:

Trumpeter Swam

Gadwall

American Wigeon

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Greater Scaup

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Common Merganser

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Bald Eagle

Virgina Rail

Short-billed Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Steller’s Jay

Common Raven

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Pacific Wren

Bewick’s Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Purple Finch

If you have any bird sightings to report or need help identifying, just email or call the store, birding@thebackyard.ca or 250-390-3669, toll-free 1-888-808-BIRD (2473)

The Backyard Bird Walks

Our bird walks are open for everyone to come out and learn and enjoy the birds. We go out Sunday mornings in Nanaimo and Tuesday mornings in Parksville and Qualicum Beach area, are easy walks that go for two to three hours (back for lunch is the plan). Bring binoculars and a field guide. The walks are weather pending.

Please check our blog (www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com) for any cancelations.

Sunday Bird Walk, November 30, 2025:

The Sunday Bird Walk will be going to Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.

Meet directly at the end of Raines Road, off Cedar Road, in the gravel parking lot at 9:00am. Weather Cooperating.

Tuesday Bird Walk, December 2, 2025:

The Tuesday Bird Walk will be going to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River Estuary.

Meet directly at the parking lot, located at the bottom of Shelly Road at 9:00 am. Weather Cooperating.

Good birding! Colin Bartlett

Tuesday Bird Walk CANCELED

 Good morning. The Tuesday Bird Walk for November 25,2025 is CANCELED due to weather. 

Good birding. 

 The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Nanaimo Bird Report

November 21, 2025
“EXPLORE NATURE” --- GO BIRDING:
To report your sightings phone the Store at 250-390-3669 or e-mail us at birding@thebackyard.ca. Please remember, when reporting a sighting to leave your name and phone number along with the date the species was seen and location of your sighting.
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Long-tailed Duck (R. Hocken)

Tuesday November 18, 2025:  

The Tuesday Bird Walk went to Deep Bay. Weather was sunny with some cloud, tide was out, and 6C. A few highlights from the walk were Hudsonian Whimbrel seen near the mail boxes on Deep Bay Road. We had great views of Long-tailed Ducks, four Trumpeter Swans flew by and across the bay an Eurasian Wigeon was seen.

12 birders saw and heard the following 60 species:

Trumpeter Swan

Canada Goose

American Wigeon

Eurasian Wigeon

Mallard

Harlequin Duck

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter

Bufflehead

Long-tailed Duck

Greater Scaup

Barrow’s Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

California Quail

Common Loon

Pacific Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Horned Grebe

Western Grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

Brandt’s Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Cooper’s Hawk

Bald Eagle

Black Oystercatcher

Black-bellied Plover

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Short-billed Gull

Thayer’s Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Pigeon Guillemot

Marbled Murrelet

Band-tailed Pigeon

Eurasian Collared Dove

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Downy Woodpecker

Steller’s Jay

Common Raven

American Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Bewick’s Wren

Pacific Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

Varied Thrush

European Starling

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

House Finch

House Sparrow

Band-tailed Pigeon (R. Hocken)

Sunday November 9, 2025:

The Sunday Bird Walk went to the Nanoose Bay Estuary, located at the end of Nanoose Beach Road. Weather was overcast. Tide was out and coming in, and 9C. A few highlights from the walk were Northern Shrike perched close by for all to see. Also seen in the estuary were 3 Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Pintail and a Cooper’s Hawk.

16 birders saw and heard the following 40 species:

Canada Goose

American Wigeon

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Barrow’s Goldeneye

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Common Loon

Horned Grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Cooper’s Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Bald Eagle

Black Oystercatcher

Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs

Short-billed Gull

California Gull

Thayer’s Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Band-tailed Pigeon

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Common Raven

American Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Northern Shrike

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

House Finch

Purple Finch

If you have any bird sightings to report or need help identifying, just email or call the store, birding@thebackyard.ca or 250-390-3669, toll-free 1-888-808-BIRD (2473)

The Backyard Bird Walks

Our bird walks are open for everyone to come out and learn and enjoy the birds. We go out Sunday mornings in Nanaimo and Tuesday mornings in Parksville and Qualicum Beach area, are easy walks that go for two to three hours (back for lunch is the plan). Bring binoculars and a field guide. The walks are weather pending.

Please check our blog (www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com) for any cancelations.

Sunday Bird Walk, November 23, 2025:

Sunday Bird Walk will be going to Maki Road Trail in Nanaimo.

Meet directly at the end of Maki Road by the gravel parking lot at 9:00am. To get there turn off HWY 19a at either Arlington Road or Nanoose Beach Road and follow over the track and to the end of the road. Weather Cooperating.

Tuesday Bird Walk, November 18, 2025:

The Tuesday Bird Walk will be going to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River Estuary.

Meet directly at the parking lot, located at the bottom of Shelly Road at 9:00 am. Weather Cooperating.

Good birding! Colin Bartlett

Clear Skies returns - hopefully with clear skies (November 15th)

 

Clear Skies is back… if only we had clear skies.

For those of you not on Vancouver Island, I’d like to explain why there haven’t been any Clear Skies notes for awhile.  

We just haven’t been getting clear skies; those of you on Vancouver Island understand fully!

With our longer evenings, Clear Skies returns… and hopefully clear skies return!

The Leonid Meteor Shower

The big event now in progress is the Leonid meteor shower.  The peak is around noon on Monday, November 17th, which means your best chance of seeing an increased number of meteors is Sunday or Monday night.  You may also see a few the following few nights.

Remember to dress warmly, find a spot with as large a swath of open sky as you can find but out of direct light from houses or street lamps.  Lay back in a lounger or on a blanket and just watch the sky with you naked eye.  Give your eyes a few minutes to adapt to the dark in order to start to see the fainter meteors.  With any luck you should see a few, and perhaps even a couple very bright ones.

The Morning Sky

Around 6 a.m. Sunday and Monday, you may see a thin crescent Moon very low in the southeast.  Notice how the whole disk is visible because of earthshine – light reflecting off our clouds and lighting up the “dark” part of the Moon.

Venus rises around 7 a.m.  On Monday and Tuesday mornings you can look for an even thinner crescent Moon closer to Venus.

Before dawn, you can also see Jupiter shining quite brightly low in the southwest, about 20 degrees above the horizon – less than the width of your outstretched hand at arm’s length.  With binoculars you may be able to pick out its bright moons close to it.

The Evening Sky

Saturn is the best object in the evening sky right now.  Early in the evening, you will see it shining brightly towards the south, nicely up in the sky.  Our angle on the rings varies during Saturn’s orbit around the Sun, and right now they are so thin as to be almost invisible from our perspective here on Earth.

As a binocular challenge, find Saturn in your binoculars, and then move them a bit to the left and slightly up.  With Saturn barely in your view, or just outside it, look for a pale blue dot in the left of your view.  That is the planet Neptune.

The Moon

Starting around November 23, you can look for a thin crescent Moon low in the southwest just after sunset.  It will be slightly higher in the sky each day after that, reaching First Quarter on the 29^th.

It is often possible to see the Moon during the day.  Before the Full Moon, the Moon follows the Sun across the sky – closely just after New Moon and then about 12 degrees further away each day.  On the 28^th or 29^th, look to the southeast late in the afternoon, and you should easily see an almost Quarter Moon in the daytime sky! 

The Moon rises early afternoon, but it will be lower in the sky.

 Clear skies.

David Prud'homme

 The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Nanaimo Bird Report

November 14, 2025
“EXPLORE NATURE” --- GO BIRDING:
To report your sightings phone the Store at 250-390-3669 or e-mail us at birding@thebackyard.ca. Please remember, when reporting a sighting to leave your name and phone number along with the date the species was seen and location of your sighting.
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Bullock’s Oriole – juvenile / female (unknown)

Thursday November 13, 2025:

A juvenile Bullock’s Oriole was seen in a Qualicum Beach.

Tuesday November 11, 2025:  

The Tuesday Bird Walk was cancelled this week for Remembrance Day.

Lesser Scaup - female (R. Hocken)

Sunday November 9, 2025:

The Sunday Bird Walk went to Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo. Weather was sunny, and 5C. A few highlights from the walk were a couple of Trumpeter Swans flew over at the start of the walk, Lesser Scaup were seen at the Buttertubs Drive end of the marsh and a Northern Shrike was along the dyke near the lookout.

16 birders saw and heard the following 39 species:

Trumpeter Swan

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Gadwall

American Wigeon

Mallard

Ring-necked Duck

Hooded Merganser

Lesser Scaup

Pied-billed Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Red-tailed Hawk

Virginia Rail

American Coot

Thayer’s Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Eurasian Collared Dove

Anna’s Hummingbird

Northern Flicker

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Steller’s Jay

Common Raven

American Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Bushtit

Marsh Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Northern Shrike

American Robin

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

House Finch

Purple Finch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

If you have any bird sightings to report or need help identifying, just email or call the store, birding@thebackyard.ca or 250-390-3669, toll-free 1-888-808-BIRD (2473)

The Backyard Bird Walks

Our bird walks are open for everyone to come out and learn and enjoy the birds. We go out Sunday mornings in Nanaimo and Tuesday mornings in Parksville and Qualicum Beach area, are easy walks that go for two to three hours (back for lunch is the plan). Bring binoculars and a field guide. The walks are weather pending.

Please check our blog (www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com) for any cancelations.

Sunday Bird Walk, November 16, 2025:

Sunday Bird Walk will be going to Nanoose Bay Estuary in Nanoose.

Meet directly at the end of Nanoose Beach Road at the beach entrance at 9:00am. To get there turn off HWY 19 at either Arlington Road or Nanoose Beach Road and follow over the track and to the end of the road. Weather Cooperating.

Tuesday Bird Walk, November 18, 2025:

The Tuesday Bird Walk will be going to Deep Bay.

Meet directly at the marina parking lot at 9:00 am. Weather Cooperating.

Good birding! Colin Bartlett

 The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Nanaimo Bird Report

November 7, 2025
“EXPLORE NATURE” --- GO BIRDING:
To report your sightings phone the Store at 250-390-3669 or e-mail us at birding@thebackyard.ca. Please remember, when reporting a sighting to leave your name and phone number along with the date the species was seen and location of your sighting.
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Snow Goose (J. Morrison)

Tuesday November 4, 2025:  

The Tuesday Bird Walk went to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in Qualicum Beach. Weather was sunny, 4C, and the tide was out. We started out at the observation platform at the north end of Qualicum Beach and then made our way over to Surfside Drive to view the estuary and walk the beach to the mouth of the Little Qualicum River Estuary. A few highlights from the walk were a Yellow-billed Loon right out front of the beach access on Surfside Drive. Also seen were Long-tailed Duck, Western Grebe and a flock of Snow Geese.

13 birders saw and heard the following 52 species:

Snow Goose

American Wigeon

Mallard

Green-winged Teal

Harlequin Duck

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter

Long-tailed Duck

Bufflehead

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-necked Grebe

Horned Grebe

Western Grebe

Yellow-billed Loon

Pacific Loon

Common Loon

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Merlin

Killdeer

Black Oystercatcher

Dunlin

Black Turnstone

Bonaparte’s Gull

Short-billed Gull

California Gull

Thayer’s Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Short-tailed Shearwater

Eurasian Collared Dove

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Common Raven

American Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Brewer’s Blackbird

House finch

Bushtit (R. Hocken)

Sunday November 2, 2025:

The Sunday Bird Walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo. Weather was a mix of sun with some clouds, 1C, and the winds were calm. A few highlights from the walk were great views of Pacific Loons, one still with breed plumage. There was also Common Murres, Western Grebe and California Quail.

14 birders saw and heard the following 43 species:

Canada Goose

American Wigeon

Mallard

Harlequin Duck

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Bufflehead

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

California Quail

Common Loon

Pacific Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Western Grebe

Pelagic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Copper’s Hawk

Bald Eagle

Black Oystercatcher

Black Turnstone

Bonaparte’s Gull

Short-billed Gull

California Gull

Thayer’s Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Common Murre

Rhinoceros Auklet

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Common Raven

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Brown Creeper

Bushtit

Bewick’s Wren

Pacific Wren

American Robin

Varied Thrush

Cedar Waxwing

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

If you have any bird sightings to report or need help identifying, just email or call the store, birding@thebackyard.ca or 250-390-3669, toll-free 1-888-808-BIRD (2473)

The Backyard Bird Walks

Our bird walks go out Sunday mornings in Nanaimo and Tuesday mornings in Parksville and Qualicum Beach area, are easy walks that go for two to three hours (back for lunch is the plan). Bring binoculars and a field guide. The walks are weather pending.

Please check our blog (www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com) for any cancelations.

Sunday Bird Walk, November 9, 2025:

Sunday Bird Walk will be going to Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo.

Meet directly at the parking lot located by Jingle Pot Road and Third Street on the south side of the marsh, at 9:00am. Weather Cooperating.

Tuesday Bird Walk, November 11, 2025:

Lest We Forget. There will be no Tuesday Bird Walk on Remembrance Day.

Good birding! Colin Bartlett