The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Red-breasted Sapsucker: Ralph Hocken Photo

The Backyard Wildbird & Nature Store
Nanaimo Bird Alert

To report your sightings
phone the Store at 250-390-3669
e-mail us at thebackyard@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 these 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

Please remember, when reporting a sighting, to leave your name and phone
number, along with the date, name and location of your sighting.

Sunday, August 03:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo. Among the highlights were four sightings of Great Horned Owls perched in tall trees. We saw one Great Horned Owl when we started out on the walk and near the end of the walk we found three on another trail. At Sunset Beach where there is usually just one, we found four Spotted Sandpipers.

We saw a line of ten Brandt's Cormorants in single file, just above the water heading into the strong westerly wind. On the water, further out towards Schooner Cove, we saw Whale spouts several times.

Eleven birders found the following twenty-eight species of birds: Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Brandt's Cormorant, Turkey Vulture,BaldEagleGreatHorned Owl, SpottedSandpiper, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Caspian Tern, Rufous Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Bewick's Wren, Winter Wren, American Robin, European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Western Tanager, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, American Goldfinch.

Eighty Bonaparte's Gulls, six Mew Gulls and Least and Western Sandpipers were seen at Pebble Beach near Columbia Beach at French Creek.

Saturday, August 02:
"Rare Bird Alert--Little Stint"

An adult Little Stint was seen in with 200 to 300 peeps including-- Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, three Greater Yellowlegs, twelve Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers, at the San Juan River Estuary near Port Renfrew on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The Little Stint is a Eurasian species which winters in Africa and Asia and is a vagrant, casual visitor on the west coast of British Columbia.

Eighteen California Quail were counted in a yard in the 2100 block of Wren Place in Nanaimo.

A Lesser Yellowlegs was seen at French Creek.

Friday, August 01:
A Black Swift was seen flying low over the sand traps and along the fairway, at Morningstar Golf Course off Lee Street and close to Morningstar Drive next to the pond. Cliff Swallows, Barn Swallows, a few Violet-green Swallows and a couple of Rough-winged Swallows were seen hawking insects over the pond.
On the water were one Canada Geese, Mallards, Wood Ducks and one Northern Shoveller. On the far side of the pond along the shore a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper was bobbing continually as it walked along the shore.

Two orange-crowned Warblers, six Cedar Waxwings and a young Western Tanager was seen in the bushes along the pond.

A Spotted Sandpiper was seen off Johnstone Road at French Creek along the ocean. Along the tide line were Black-bellied Plovers, eight Western and Least Sandpipers,, a Bonaparte's Gull and Glaucous-winged Gulls.

Four Anna's Hummingbirds and three Northern Flickers were visiting feeders along Lancashire Avenue in Nanaimo.

Several Black Swifts were seen near Hammond Bay Road and Rutherford Road in Nanaimo.

Eight Common Nighthawks, eighteen Violet-green Swallows, twenty-four Brewer's Blackbirds and thirteen American Robins were seen at Sooke.

Wednesday July 30:

A Steller's Jay was seen in the 3200 block of Uplands Drive in Nanaimo.

A Red Breasted Sapsucker was seen at the corner of Cavan Street and Victoria Crescent in downtown Nanaimo.

Tuesday July 29:

A Rufous Hummingbird was observed chasing a Merlin at Fairwinds in Nanoose Bay.

Five Steller's jays and a male Anna's Hummingbird were seen in a yard along Dawkins Lane in Nanaimo.

Friday July 25:
A Screech owl was seen on Friday night along Rockhampton Road in Fairwinds, Nanoose Bay.

For further information on these sightings or for help in identifying a
bird please call The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store
@ (250) 390-3669
Toll Free @ 1-888-249-4145
e-mail: thebackyard@shaw.ca
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The Nanoose Naturalists
Monthly Meeting
Thursday September 11, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
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Arrowsmith Naturalists
Annual Picnic--July 28, 2008.
Monthly Meeting,
Monday September 22, 2008@ 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
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Everyone is welcome to join us for a 2-3 hour bird walk on the Sunday and Wednesday 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 Visitor Centre in Parksville at 9 A.M. Wednesdays and go to different areas in and around the Oceanside area.
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The Backyard Wildbird & Nature Store's weekly bird walk in the Parksville/Qualicum Beach area on Wednesday mornings will not be held during the summer months. We will resume the Wednesday bird walks in
the fall.
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The Sunday Bird Walk on August 10, 2008 will be going to the Englishman River Estuary, Plummer Road side.
Meet at the Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or at the corner of Shorewood Drive and Plummer Road at about 9:30 A.M..
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Good birding
Neil Robins
Nanaimo
British Columbia