Nanaimo bird report, September 13, 2015

NANAIMO 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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Sunday, September 13, 2015:

The Sunday bird walk went to Neck Point Park in Nanaimo.  The morning was sunny with strong winds off the Strait of Georgia.  The highlights included seeing a Black Oystercatcher perched on a rock near the shore. We saw the resident Spotted Sandpiper fly along Sunshine Bay near the far shore. Double-crested Cormorants and Pelagic Cormorants flew low over the strait heading north.

Black Oystercatcher: Ralph Hocken Photo.   

Twenty-three birders including visiting birders from Victoria, Alberta, Oregon and California saw and heard the following twenty-five species:

Common Loon

Canada Geese

Double-crested Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

Mallard

Common Merganser

Great Blue Heron

Black Oystercatcher

Spotted Sandpiper

Turkey Vulture

Glaucous-winged Gull

Anna’s Hummingbird

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Steller’s Jay

Common Raven

Northwestern Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Bewick’s Wren

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

American Robin

Spotted Towhee

European Starlings 

Saturday, September 12:

Surfbirds and Horned Larks were seen at Piper’s Lagoon in Nanaimo. 

.A Wilson’s Snipe was spotted along Morell Circle in Nanaimo.  

Three Clarks Grebes were seen on the Strait of Georgia from the Plummer Road side of the Englishman River in Parksville. 

Friday, September 11:

Wood Ducks and a Trumpeter Swan were seen at Beck Lake in south Nanaimo. 

Thursday, September 10:

Twenty common Nighthawks were seen over Corfield Road in Parksville. 

A Horned Lark was seen on Sugar Loaf Mountain in Nanaimo.

 

Tuesday, September 08:

The first Tuesday bird walk for the fall went to the Shelly Road side of the Englishman River in Parksville.  The morning started out cloudy but soon turned sunny with a light breeze.  The highlights included seeing a Parasitic Jaeger flying low over the water heading down the Strait of Georgia.  Not far from shore, a mixed flock of Common Terns and Arctic Terns were circling and playing in the wind as they flew down the Strait.  We saw a hawk lift numerous gulls from a gravel bar near the ocean. The Hawk landed near the gulls and we had a chance to study it with our scopes. We concluded that the Hawk, with the long tail of an accipiter, broad head and bulky body and a white “eyebrow” above the eye was a Northern Goshawk.  A pair of American Kestrels put on a show for us as they chased each other over the meadow.

      

 

          Parasitic Jaeger: Ralph Hocken Photo. 

Twenty-three birders including visiting birders from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, along with two birders from the United Kingdom and Ontario who have just moved to this area, saw and heard the following forty species.

Common Loon

Canada Geese

Mallard

American Wigeon

Common Merganser

Northern Pintail

Turkey Vulture

Bald Eagle

Northern Goshawk

American Kestrel

Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs

Black-bellied Plover

Parasitic Jaeger

California Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Mew Gull

Common Terns

Artic Terns

Black Swift

Anna’s Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Flicker

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Yellow Warbler

Steller’s Jay

Common Raven

Northwestern Crow

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

American Robin

European Starling

 Cedar Waxwing

White-crowned Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Savannah’s Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Spotted Towhee

House Finch

                          American Goldfinch.                                                                                                         

Common Terns & Bonaparte Gull: Ralph Hocken Photo 

Saturday, September 05:

A Western Grebe was seen at the Englishman River Estuary in Parksville

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

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The Tuesday bird walk on September 15 will be going to the Little Qualicum River Estuary in Qualicum Beach.

Meet at the Parksville Bay Community Park at the Lions Club Playground parking lot at 9:00 am. Or at the Brant Viewing Platform in north Qualicum Beach at about 9:20 am 

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The Sunday bird walk on September 20, 2015 will be going to the Nanaimo River Estuary in south Nanaimo.  Meet at the Birdstore at 9:00 a.m. or at the end Raines Road in south Nanaimo at about 9:30 a.m.

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British Columbia Rare Bird Alert link--- http://www.bcbirdalert.blogspot.ca/
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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.com