Pacific Golden-Plover: Ralph Hocken Photo
The Tuesday bird walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville. The morning was sunny and the winds were calm--a great day to be birding. Among the highlights was the sighting of a Yellow Warbler and an Orange-crowned Warbler gleaning insects from a short bush near the trail. Overhead were four Black Swifts hawking insects. We saw Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers and a Long-billed Dowitcher along the mud flats at San Pareil. There were two Harlequin Ducks, Horned Grebes, Rednecked Grebes, Common Loons, Bonaparte's Gulls, Ring-billed Gull, California Gulls and Mew Gulls on the Strait of Georgia.
The most exciting highlight of the morning, however, was on the mud flats of the estuary. There we saw a Pacific Golden-Plover, who is a rare fall migrant along the Pacific Coast and who winters on Pacific Islands in south-east Asia and Australia. Alongside the Pacific Golden-Plover was an American Golden-Plover who is also a rare fall migrant, usually seen east of the Rockies and who winters in South America.
Twenty birders saw and heard the following fifty-one species of birds--
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
Common Merganser
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Merlin
American Golden-Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre
Black Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Brewer's Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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