Nanaimo bird alert

Pacific White sided Dolphins at Neck Point: Janie Agar 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

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, October 19, 2008:
The Sunday Bird Walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo.
Among the highlights was the sightings of about sixty Pacific White sided Dolphins who spent the entire morning just off the point, moving back and forth feeding and displaying. We had a Yellow-billed Loon come in close to shore, a Horned Lark who landed on the Point to give us great looks and over two hundred Black Turnstones who lifted from the rocks in a large cloud as a Merlin flew past.
Twenty-nine birders found the following forty-seven species of birds:
Mallard, Surf Scoter, Black Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Harlequin Duck, Common Merganser, Common Loon, Pacific Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Yellow-billed Loon, Pelagic Cormorant, Brant's Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Black Turnstones, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, Thayer's Gull, Marbled Murrelet, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Steller's Jay, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, Bushtit, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, House Finch, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, American Pipit, Horned Lark, Savannah Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Pine Siskin, and Purple Finch.

Saturday October 18:
A Pileated Woodpecker was seen at a suet feeder in the Harlequin Crescent in Nanoose Bay.


Friday October 17:
Thirteen Brown Pelicans were seen at Port Renfrew.

Over three hundred Pine Siskins and six White-winged Crossbills were spotted in the top of Cedar Trees in Errington.

California Quail, two Steller's Jays, three Northern Flickers and a Silver Pheasant were seen in the 5200 block of Fillinger Crescent in Nanaimo.

Wednesday October 15:
A Varied Thrush was seen in the 3600 block of Uplands Drive in Nanaimo.

An Anna's Hummingbird was seen along Long Lake Road in Yellowpoint.

Tuesday October 14:
Twelve Greater-White fronted Geese were seen at Fairwinds in Nanoose Bay.

Monday October 13:

A Pectoral Sandpiper was seen at the Englishman River Estuary, Plummer Road side.

Sunday October 12:
Fifty-two Greater White-fronted Geese were seen at Columbia Beach.

Saturday October 11:

A Northern Pygmy Owl was seen along Nanaimo Lakes Road in south Nanaimo.

Twelve Hooded Mergangers and two Harlequin Ducks were seen on the east side of Protection Island, south of Smugglers Park.


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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Arrowsmith Naturalists
Monthly Meeting,
Monday October 27, 2008@ 7:30 pm.
Springwood School
Parksville
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The Nanoose Naturalists
Monthly Meeting
Thursday November 13, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
Nanoose Library,
Nanoose Bay
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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.
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PLEASE NOTE: ***The Wednesday Morning Birdwalks are now the Tuesday Bird Walks.***
The Tuesday Bird Walks will resume on October 21. Meet at the Parksville Beach Community Park at 9 A.M.
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The Tuesday Bird Walk on Tuesday October 21 will be going to The Englishman River Estuary, Shelly Road in Parksville.
Meet at the Parksville Beach Community Park, meet near the Concession Building at 9 A.M. or at the end of Shelly Road off the Oceanside of Highway 19A.
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The Sunday Bird Walk on October 26, 2008 will be going to Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.
Meet at the Bird Store at 9:00 A.M. or at the end of Raines Road at about 9:30 A.M.
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Good birding
Neil Robins
Nanaimo