Parksville/Qualicum Beach Tuesday bird walk, February 04, 2014

e Tuesday bird walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville. The morning was very chilly with a cold wind blowing and the waters of the Strait of Georgia were rough. We were rewarded with the sighting of an Eurasian Teal feeding in the mudflats. The Eurasian Teal breeds in northern Asia and Europe and winters in southern Asia and Africa and is seldom seen in this area. The mud flats were covered with Northern Pintail, Green-wing Teal, American Widgeon, Bufflehead, Mallards feeding along side the one Eurasian Teal. A large flock of Red-breasted Mergansers, a Western Grebe, Surf Scoters, White-winged Scoters, Common Murre, Pacific Loons and Greater Scaup were seen on the Strait of Georgia. Several Flocks of Dunlin and Brant flew down the Strait.

                                      Eurasian(Common) Teal: John Purves Photo 

Fourteen birders saw and heard the following forty-six species:

Canada Geese

Brant

American Widgeon

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Eurasian Teal

Green-winged Teal

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Bufflehead

Greater Scaup

Long-tailed Duck

Common Goldeneye

Red-breasted Merganser

Pacific Loon

Common Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Horned Grebe

Western grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Brandt’s Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

Dunlin

Black-bellied Plover

Black Oystercatcher

Black Turnstone

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Mew Gull

Thayer's Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Common Murre

Northern Flicker

Northwestern Crow

Common Raven

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Belted Kingfisher

Anna’s Hummingbird

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Golden-crowned Kinglet

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

 

Eurasian Teal left-Green-winged Teal-right. Female Northern Pintail front.                               

 Range of the Eurasian Teal

 

The Tuesday bird walk on February 11, 2014 will be going to Columbia Beach. 

Good Birding

Neil Robins

Parksville