Parksville/Qualicum Beach Tuesday bird walk, March 12, 2013

                                       White-winged Crossbill

 

The Tuesday bird walk went to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in Qualicum Beach. The morning was cloudy and calm.

The shoreline at the viewing platform off Highway 19A was covered with gulls for as far as the eye could see. Brant Geese, Surf Scoters, White-winged Scoters, Black Scoters, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Long-tailed Ducks formed a massive raft further off shore. The Gulls took up the similar huge area at the estuary. They lifted and circled the sky and landed on the gravel bars when an Eagle flew over. There was a large raft of Greater Scaup, Common Goldeneye and Barrow’s Goldeneye near the shoreline. Further off shore there were large numbers of mixed flocks of seabirds—much the same

as we saw at the viewing platform earlier in the morning. Over ten Violet-green Swallows flew over head hawking insects and we spotted a Red Crossbill at the top of a bush as we neared the estuary. We caught the sight of four White-winged Crossbills perched on top of a conifer across the Conservation area. The bold white-wing markings and the black scapulars of the White-winged Crossbills were very distinctive through our spotting scopes. The White-wing Crossbills stayed for a long period, giving us all long studying looks. The White-winged Crossbills are normally found in areas outside of southern British Columbia. This is the first sighting of them for the Tuesday bird walks, making a terrific end to a great day of birding!

Eleven birders saw and heard the following forty-four species:

Canada Goose

Brant

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Greater Scaup
Harlequin Duck

Green-winged Teal

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter

Long-tailed Duck

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Barrow’s Goldeneye

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Pacific Loon

Common Loon

Horned Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Merlin

Black Turnstone

Black Oystercatcher

Killdeer
Mew Gull

California Gull

Herring Gull

Thayer's Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Northwestern Crow
Common Raven

Violet-green Swallow

American Robin

European Starling
Spotted Towhee

Red-winged Blackbird

Brewer’s Blackbird

Red Crossbill

White-winged Crossbill

House Finch

Song Sparrow

The Tuesday bird walk on March 19, will be going to Rathtrevor Provincial Park in Parksville.

                                Violet-green Swallow: Ralph Hocken Photo.

Good birding

Neil Robins

Parksville