Nanaimo bird report, September 04, 2016

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.
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Reporting Collared Canada Goose Sightings

Hello fellow birders:

As part of the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Bird Banding project, we banded and collared 200 Canada Geese around Nanaimo last June.  This banding effort is part of an undergraduate research project by VIU biology student Stew Pearce, with main objective to determine the abundance, distribution and movement of geese in the Nanaimo area.  The geese have white neck collars with black lettering that ranges from 000P to 199P. 

We are conducting regular surveys to track geese, but we hope to increase the number of collared goose sightings by encouraging birders and members of the public to report their sightings through our project website - https://wordpress.viu.ca/gooseproject/.  There is a simple form to fill out to report sightings.  We are interested in any sightings of these geese, whether in the Nanaimo area or elsewhere, including the number of “uncollared” geese they may associated with. 

We appreciate your help with this project.  Feel free to contact us off list to find out more about the project or results so far (stew.pearce@shaw.ca).

Eric Demers, Ph.D., R.P.Bio.
Biology Department
B.Sc. Degree Advisor
Vancouver Island University

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Sunday, September 04, 2016:

The Sunday bird walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo. The morning was sunny with a strong wind off the Strait of Georgia. We saw two Marbled Murrelets on the Strait and one in the bay near the parking lot. The Spotted Sandpiper was seen in its usual location on shore at Sunset Beach. Double-crested Cormorants and Pelagic Cormorants were flying along the Strait.  A Warbling Vireo was feeding in a Oak tree just above us on the trail, giving us great views.  A Black-throated Grey Warbler was seen high in a tree above us. 

Seventeen birders saw and heard the thirty-five species:   

                                       Common Loon

Double-crested Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

Mallard

Common Merganser

Harlequin Duck

Surf Scoter

Marbled Murrelet

Great Blue Heron

Black Oystercatcher

Spotted Sandpiper

Belted Kingfisher

Bald Eagle

Cooper’s Hawk

Turkey Vulture

Glaucous-winged Gull

California Gull

Mew Gull

Purple Martin

Anna’s Hummingbird

Northern Flicker

Common Raven

Northwestern Crow

Black-throated Grey Warbler

Warbling Vireo

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Bewick’s Wren

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

American Robin

Spotted Towhee

European Starling

Purple Finch

Song Sparrow

 

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Everyone is welcome to join us for a 2-3 hour bird walk on Sunday & Tuesday. We leave from the Store at 9 a.m. on Sunday Mornings and go to a different location in and around Nanaimo.  We leave from the Parksville Community Park at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday mornings go to a different location in the Oceanside area.

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The Sunday bird walk on September 11, 2016 will be going to West Buttertubs Marsh in Nanaimo. Meet at the Birdstore at (please note time) 8:00 a.m. or at the parking lot off Jungle Pot Road at Buttertubs at about 8:20 a.m.

 

We look forward to hosting your bird group at the banding station at Buttertubs on Sunday, Sept. 11.  We open nets at 06:10 that morning, so anyone is welcome at 06:30 or after when we will have birds on hand.

 

Eric Demers

 

( Directions to banding station—Park at the Buttertubs parking lot on the Jingle Pot side of Buttertubs.  Follow Jingle Pot road on foot to Valley Oak Drive and turn right and then left and go around the bar across the road.  Follow the road to the banding station.

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The Tuesday bird walk on September 06, 2016 will be going to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River in Parksville. Meet at the Parksville Community Park at 9:00 a.m or at the end of Shelly Road on the Oceanside of highway 19a at about 9:10 a.m.

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     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