Nanaimo bird report, December 29, 2013

NANAIMO BIRD REPORT
" EXPLORE NATURE-GO BIRDING"

To report your sightings phone the Store at 250-390-3669 or e-mail us at
thebackyard@shaw.ca..... Please remember, when
reporting a sighting, to leave your name and phone number along with the
date, the species and location of your sighting.

”HAPPY NEW YEAR- 2014” 

AND GOOD BIRDING! 

FROM THE GANG AT THE BACKYARD WILDBIRD & NATURE STORE

 

Tuesday, December 24:

The Tuesday bird walk went to the Englishman River Estuary, Plummer Road side in Parksville. The morning was cloudy and calm with peaks of sunshine throughout the morning. Nine trumpeter swans flew overhead at the community park. We spotted a Northern Shrike perched on a shrub near the river and we watched as it flew out for prey and returned to the perch. Far offshore we spotted ten Common Murre, forty Ancient Murrelets, forty Western Grebes, two Pigeon Guillemots and hundreds of Pacific Loons on the Strait of Georgia. A Coopers Hawk was perched close to the viewing platform.

 

                                                                              

Northern Shrike: Ralph Hocken Photo.

 

Eleven birders saw and heard the following fifty-six species:

Canada geese, Brandt, Trumpeter Swans, American Widgeons, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Harlequin Duck, White-winged Scoter, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Common Golden-eye, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Western Grebe, Doubled-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Northern Shrike, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk, California Quail, Black-bellied Plover, Black Turnstone, Black Oystercatcher, mew Gull, Thayer’s Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Common Murre, Marbled Murrelet, Ancient Murrelet, Pigeon Guillemot, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and Purple Finch. 

 Monday, December 23:

A Greater White-fronted Goose was seen in with a flock of Canada Geese and twenty Brandt Geese at the Parksville Community Park in Parksville.  

Two Cackling Geese were seen in with a flock of Canada Geese and one lone Eurasian Widgeon in with a flock of America Widgeon at French Creek.  

A raft of an estimated ten thousand Western Grebes stretched offshore from Surfside Drive in north Qualicum Beach to Memorial Drive near the visitor centre in Qualicum Beach. Eight Clark’s Grebes were seen just off shore.  

Hundreds of Pacific Loons, Red-necked Grebes, Black Scoters, White-winged Scoters, Common Murre, Ancient Murrelets and Long-tailed Ducks, were in the same area. 

                                                                                    

Eurasian Widgeon: Ralph Hocken Photo.

 

***********************************************************************************
Everyone is welcome to join us for a 2-3 hour bird walk on the Sunday and
Tuesday mornings. We leave from the Store at 9 a.m. Sunday Mornings and go to a different location in and around Nanaimo and from the Parksville Beach Community Park at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays and go to different areas in and around the Oceanside area.
****************************************************************************

The Tuesday bird walk on December 31 will be going to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in Qualicum Beach. Meet at the Parksville Community Park at the parking lot near the Lions Club playground at 9:00 am or at the viewing platform in north Qualicum Beach at about 9:15 am.
****************************************************************************

The Sunday Bird Walk on January 05 will be going to the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.  Meet at the birdstore at 9:00 am or at the  end of Raines Road in south Nanaimo at about 9:30 am.
****************************************************************************  

British Columbia rare bird alert link---
 http://www.bcbirdalert.blogspot.ca/  
****************************************************************************

WildResearch link---
http://www.wildresearch.ca/

 

******************************************************************************

Link

http://coastaltarsands.ca/w1/videos/

 

*******************************************************************************
Good birding
Neil Robins

THE BACKYARD WILDBIRD & NATURE STORE
6314 Metral Drive
Nanaimo B.C.
V9T-2L8
Phone: 250-390-3669 
Fax: 250-390-1633
Email:  thebackyard@shaw.ca
Blog:  www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com