The Backyard's Weekly Bird Walk locations are found in the Backyard Bird Report at the very end of the most recent report. Any cancellations will be posted by 8am the day of the walk.

Tuesday 14 March 2017

The Tuesday bird walk went to the Brant Viewing Platform and the Little Qualicum River Estuary in north Qualicum Beach. The morning started out cloudy with light rain, but the sun came out, making for one of the first sunny walks in a long while!  Thousands of Surf Scoters, twenty Long-tail Ducks, several Lesser Scaup and hundreds of Greater Scaup were seen from the viewing platform.  Several Bald Eagles were seen resting on a log along the shore.  A Western Gull and thousand's of Mew Gulls, California Gulls, Thayer’s Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls were flying and resting on the shoreline and gravel bars all morning.  Hundreds of Common Goldeneye and Barrows Goldeneye were seen on the Strait just beyond the gravel bar at the estuary.  A large number of Common Merganser were roosting on the River.  We spotted a Cooper’s Hawk perched on a tall Conifer Tree on the estuary giving us great views. There were an estimated three thousand singing Brant Geese not fifty feet from the shore----a great sight!
 
 




 

Brant Geese: Ralph Hocken Photo.
 

 
 
Fourteen birders including two visiting birders from Ottawa saw and heard the following forty-three species;
Brant
Canada Geese
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
American Widgeon
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Long-tail Duck
Lesser Scaup
Greater Scaup
Bufflehead
Northern Pintail
Barrows Goldeneye
Common Goldeneye
Horned Grebe
Common Merganser
Common Loon
Pacific loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Sanderling
                                                          Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Western Gull
Mew Gull
California Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Northwestern Crow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Purple Finch
 House Sparrow

                                                           California Gull: Ralph Hocken Photo

The Tuesday bird walk on March 21, 2015 will be going to Columbia Beach.  Meet at the Parksville Community Park at the parking lot near the Lions Club Kids Playground at 9:00 a.m. or at the parking area off Admiral Tryon Blvd. (Turn off highway 19a at Columbia Drive, turn right at Admiral Tryon Blvd. go about one hundred yards to the parking area)

Good birding
Neil Robins 

THE BACKYARD WILDBIRD & NATURE STORE
314 Metral Drive
 Nanaimo B.C.
V9T-2L8
Phone: 250-390-3669
Fax: 250-390-1633
Blog: www.thebirdstore.blogspot.com

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