Parksville/Qualicum Beach Tuesday bird walk, September 14, 2010

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Ralph Hocken Photo.

Hi birders,
The Tuesday bird walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville. The morning was sunny and comfortable with calm winds. We saw a Townsend's Warbler and a Yellow Warbler near the start of the walk. But the big highlight of the morning was the sighting of two Black-and-white Warblers in with a large mixed flock of Orange-crowned Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-throated Gray Warblers, Bushtits and Warbling Vireos as they moved along the river feeding in the bushes. We watched the flock for about a hour and we were able to compare the Black-and-white Warblers with the Black-throated Gray Warblers. Seeing the fall migrants moving through the bushes along the river made for an excellent morning of birding. We spotted a Pectoral Sandpiper on the edge of the mudflats, near the viewing platform. Harlequin Ducks, Surf Scoters, Common Loons, a Red-necked Grebe, a Double-crested Cormorant, a Pelagic Cormorant, a Pigeon Guillemot and two Marbled Murrelet were seen on the Strait of Georgia. We had great close looks at a male Anna's Hummingbird near the end of the walk.
Sixteen birders saw and heard the following fifty-seven species of birds:
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
Common Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Merlin
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Mew Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Warbling Vireo
Steller's Jay
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Brewer's Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch

Good birding
Neil Robins
Parksville
British Columbia