The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Nanaimo Bird Report

June 6, 2020

“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 was seen and location of your sighting.
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Photo: Common Nighthawk (Faulkner)

Tuesday June 2, 2020



Barred Owl was heard along the Millstone River near Buttertubs Marsh.



Wednesday June 3, 2020



Common Nighthawks were seen over Lost Lake Road and Redmond Road.



Friday June 5, 2020:



Red-breasted Sapsucker, Brown Creeper and Swainson’s Thrush were seen and hear at Anders & Doritt Community Park on Jingle Pot Road, Nanaimo. 

Photo: Red-breasted Sapsucker (J. Morrison)

Backyard Feeder Notes:

This week at my backyard feeders it has been busy with the Northern Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, House Finch and the return of the chickadees, nuthatch and Bewick’s Wren. A male Anna’s Hummingbird makes regular visits but it was the female Rufous Hummingbird that let me know it was not ok to take the feeder away. It was good to see the Rufous Hummingbird as this is the first I have seen in my backyard in the last couple of years, the Anna’s Hummingbirds seem to have taken over.

This week was the first reports of Common Nighthawks which are one of the last of the migrating birds to return.

Looking to find a new park or birding area. I stop by the Anders & Dorrit Community Park on Jingle Pot road to check out the birding. I have been here before many years ago when Anders took me around the property showing me where all the birds were nesting. It is a great little spot, just over 6 acres and is surrounded by farms, forest, the Millstone River and there is open grass area, great for lunch. A quick walk through I watch a Brown Creeper foraging, was reprimanded for being too close to a Bushtit Nest, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Western Tanager was singing were just a few. It’s a great place for a picnic but parking is limited.

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The Sunday and Tuesday Bird Walks

temporarily postponed

Sunday Bird Walks will resume on June 14, Legacy March Lantzville

Tuesday Bird Walks will resume on June 16, TBA

Here is a list of birds seen at Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary on one of the Tuesday Bird Walk from July 2019. 37 species were seen and heard:

Common Loon

Canada Goose

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Common Merganser

Turkey Vulture

Bald Eagle

Semipalmated Plover

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Glaucous-winged Gull

California Gull

Killdeer

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Willow Flycatcher

Pacific-sloped Flycatcher

Northwestern Crow

Common Raven

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Bewick’s Wren

Warbling Vireo

American Robin

Swainson’s Thrush

Cedar Waxwing

European Starling

Orange-crowned Warbler

MacGillivray’s Warbler

Western Tanager

Spotted Towhee

White-crowned Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Purple Finch

American Goldfinch

Photo: Swainson’s Thrush (R. Hocken)

Good birding!

Colin Bartlett