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

The Tuesday bird walk went to Rathtrevor Provincial Park in Parksville. The morning was sunny with a light breeze off the Strait of Georgia making for a great morning of birding. The highlight of the morning was the sighting of a Rhinoceros Auklet on the Strait. Hundreds of Dunlin and a large number of Black-bellied Plovers were feeding long the tideline and on the tide pools. We spotted Common Murre, Marbled Murrelet, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Western Grebes further offshore. A Ring-billed Gull was spotted in with the other gull species near the shore.

                                 

                                Dunlin and Black-bellied Plovers in Flight: Ralph Hocken Photo.               

 

Eleven birders saw and heard the following thirty-four species:

Canada Goose
American Wigeon

Harlequin Duck

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye
Surf Scoter

White-wing Scoter

Red-breasted Merganser
Common Merganser

Horned Grebe

Red-neck Grebe

Western Grebe

Pacific Loon
Common Loon

Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant

Rhinoceros Auklet

Common Murre

Marbled Murrelet

Dunlin

Black-bellied Plover

Ring-billed Gull
Mew Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull

Northern Flicker
Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Anna’s Hummingbird

Pacific Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco

 Common Goldeneye: Ralph Hocken Photo.

 

The Tuesday bird walk on November 11, 2014 will be going to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River in Parksville.

 

Good birding

Neil Robins

Parksville