The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Parksville/Qualicum Beach Tuesday Bird Walk, March 12, 2019, 
The Tuesday bird walk went to Columbia Beach in French Creek. The morning was sunny but cool with very strong winds off the Strait of Georgia.  The highlight of the morning was thousands upon thousands  of Gulls either on the Strait or flying, including Glaucous Gulls, Mew Gulls, California Gulls, Iceland(Thayer's) Gulls, Herring Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls. There was also vast numbers of Brant Geese on the Strait. One Glaucous Gull was seen not five feet from the shore giving us great views.  Many flocks of Surf Scoters, White-winged Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks heading up the Strait. A Cooper’s Hawk was perched in a tree not far from the trail checking us over for the longest time. The Herring Spawn has arrived!

Twenty-two birders including visiting birders from Ottawa and Washington State saw and heard the following fifty-seven species:

Canada Geese

Brant

American Wigeon

Eurasian Wigeon

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Greater Scaup

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Long-tailed Duck

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Red-breasted Merganser

Common Merganser

Pacific Loon

Common Loon

Horned Grebe

Red-necked Grebe

Western Grebe

Common Murre

Marbled Murrelet

Brandt’s Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant 

Belted Kingfisher

Greater Yellowlegs

Black Turnstone

Black Oystercatcher

Killdeer

Black-bellied Plover

Dunlin

Bald Eagle

Cooper’s Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Glaucous Gull

Mew Gull

California Gull

Iceland(Thayer's) Gull

Herring Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Northern Flicker

Common Raven

Northwestern Crow

Anna’s Hummingbird

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Bushtit

American Robin

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Spotted Towhee

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Purple Finch

House Finch
Pine Siskin

House Sparrow

Glaucous Gull:   Ralph Hocken Photo:

Please Note:
Check this site (www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com) early Tuesday and Sunday on stormy mornings to see if the walks have been cancelled!

The Sunday Bird Walk on March 17, 2019 will be going to the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo. Meet at the Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store (6314 Metral Drive in Nanaimo) at 9:00am or at the end of Raines Road off Cedar Road at about 9:30am.

The Tuesday Bird Walk on March19, 2019 will be going to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in north Qualicum Beach. Meet at the Parksville Community Park (near the Lions Club playground parking lot) in Parksville at 9:00 am, or at the Brant viewing platform in north Qualicum Beach at about 9:25am.

Good birding
Neil Robins 

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