The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

 The Backyard Wildbird and Nature Store

Nanaimo Bird Report

June 27, 2024
“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.
********************************************************* 

Pelagic Cormorant (R. Hocken)

Tuesday June 25, 2024:

The Tuesday Bird Walk went to the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville. Weather was sunny, 17C, tide was out, and the Salish Sea was choppy. The walk started out with a bit of a chorus going on with Swainson’s Thrush, Cedar Waxwings and Orange-crown Warbler. A MacGillivray’s Warbler that was heard singing along with a Yellow Warbler in the shrubs near the river. On the mud flat there were lots of Killdeer seen and heard but not mush else. The same went with the Salish Sea that was choppy with only a couple of cormorant species seen.

11 birders saw and heard the following 41 species:

Canada Goose

Common Merganser

Pelagic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture

Cooper’s Hawk

Bald Eagle

Killdeer

Black Oystercatcher

Glaucous-winged Gull

Eurasian Collared Dove

Anna’s Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Northern Flicker

Willow Flycatcher

Western (Pacific-slope) Flycatcher

Violet-green Swallow

Common Raven

American Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Bushtit

Bewick’s Wren

Swainson’s Thrush

American Robin

Cedar Waxwing

European Starling

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow Warbler

MacGillivray’s Warbler

Western Tanager

Spotted Towhee

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Brown-headed Cowbird

House Finch

Purple Finch

American Goldfinch

Sunday June 16, 2024:

Unfortunately, there was no Sunday Bird Walk this week.

House Finch (J. Morrison)

For the backyard feeders, the suet is still very busy with all the young flickers, Downy Woodpeckers and now a new batch of Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Of course, the starlings are still busy at the suet as well. House Finches are busy, and the American Goldfinch are starting to nest.

The bird bath is busier and with the warmer weather a bird bath can attract species that are not common visitors to the seed feeders. Birds have great hearing so any sound of moving water will help to attract birds to your water supply.

Also with the warmer weather, the hummingbird nectar will ferment quicker and will need to be cleaned and changed more often.

If you have any birds to report or need help identifying, just email or call the store, birding@thebackyard.ca or 250-390-3669, toll-free 1-888-808-BIRD (2473)

The Backyard Bird Walks

Our bird walks go out Sunday mornings in Nanaimo and Tuesday mornings in Parksville and Qualicum Beach area, are easy walks that go for two to three hours (back for lunch is the plan). Bring binoculars and a field guide. The walks are weather pending.

Please check our blog (www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com) for any cancelations.

The weekly bird walks will be taking a break for the summer and will resume sometime late August / early September.

Good birding! Colin Bartlett