Nanaimo Sunday Bird Walks, 2009

Short-eared Owl at the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo: Ralph Hocken Photo.

We visited the following sites on the Sunday Bird Walks in 2009:
Morden Colliery Historic Park
Hemer Provincial Park
Beck Creek
Nanaimo River Estuary
Neck Point Park
Buttertubs Marsh
Bowen Park
McGregor Marsh
Linley Valley
Morrell Wildlife Sanctuary
Legacy Marsh
Nanoose Bay
Beaver Ponds at Nanoose Bay
Rathtrevor Provincial Park
Shelly Road side of the Englishman River Estuary
Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary
Springwood Park
Columbia Beach
The Little Qualicum River Estuary.

The number of participants varied (usually depending on the weather!) from five to forty birders, with an average of fifteen birders per walk. We saw and heard the following 160 species of birds:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
Brant
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Sanderling
Pectoral Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Bonaparte's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Great Horned Owl
Northern Hawk Owl
Barred Owl
Short-eared Owl
Black Swift
Vaux's Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Northern Shrike
Cassin's Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Steller's Jay
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Good birding
Neil Robins
Parksville
British Columbia