Parksville/Qualicum Beach Tuesday bird walk, April 02, 2013

                                                        

Mountain Bluebird: Ralph Hocken Photo.

 

The Tuesday bird walk went to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville. The morning was cloud but warm with calm winds. We heard Bewick's Wrens, Pacific Wrens, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Varied Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-crowned Sparrows singing their songs throughout the morning. 

A flock of Red Crossbills greeted us from high up in the tall trees. We spotted two Band-tailed Pigeons and three Yellow-rumped Warblers high up on the snags across the river. One juvenile Peregrine Falcon was perched on a snag on the estuary giving us great views through the scopes. We saw several large flocks of Brant and small flocks of Long-tailed Ducks flying up and down the Strait of Georgia. The bird of the morning showed up on the meadows--a Mountain Bluebird! The Bluebird was perched on top of a small bush, leaving once in a while to hawk insects only to return to perch and give us great views.  A Northern Shrike was perched not far from the Bluebird also hunting from a small bushes. The scopes provided good close up views. We spotted Orange-crowned Warblers feeding fairly high up in the trees. A Barred Owl was spotted roosting low in a cedar tree as we finished the walk.

Sixteen birders saw and heard the following sixty-three species:

Canada Goose
Brant

Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Mallard

Gadwall
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Long-tailed Duck
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser
California Quail
Common Loon

Pacific Loon
Horned Grebe

Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle

Peregrine Falcon

Northern Shrike

Barred Owl
Mew Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull

Pigeon Guillemot
Common Murre
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian-collared Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch

Bushtit
Bewick's Wren
Pacific Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin

Varied Thrush

Mountain Bluebird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird

House Finch

Red Crossbill

Pine Siskin  

The Tuesday bird walk on April 9 will be going to Columbia Beach. 

Barred Owl: Ralph Hocken Photo.

Good birding

Neil Robins

Parksville. 

Here is an interesting website re-the Coastal Tar Sands-

http://coastaltarsands.ca/w1/