Photo: Dunlin at Eaglecrest by Mike Yip
BIRDING SUPPLIES
A. The Backyard Wild Bird & Nature Store (Nanaimo) - Your one-stop birding resource for equipment (binoculars & scopes), references (field-guides), bird food, feeders, and information. The last item is usually current, comprehensive, and free-of-charge by very knowledgeable staff. The store also sponsors free, weekly guided Sunday Bird Walks for most of the year, and collects rare bird alerts for the region. Sunday bird walks resume in Feb. 2004.
B. Chapters - for a large selection of reference books and field guides
C. Buckerfields, Canadian Tire, & Walmart - an alternate source of basic bird food and feeders (limited selection)
Photo: Willow Flycatcher at Dolphin Lake
BIRDING &/or NATURALIST CLUBS
A. Nanaimo Field Naturalists
B. Nanoose Naturalist Club
C. Arrowsmith Naturalists
D. Comox-Strathcona Natural History Society
Websites
groups.yahoo.com/group/vanislandbirdphotos/
birding.bc.ca
BIRDING SERVICES
A. Professional Bird Guiding
B. Photographic Services - Rare bird documentation? As a free service in the interest of promoting Island birding, there are amateur photographers (myself included) who are willing to do some travelling to try to get the photo documentation of significant bird sightings.
Box 125
Nanaimo
BC
V9R 5K9
This is a fairly active club with regular outings and monthly meetings. Contact list available by request.
Box 1542,
Parksville, BC V0R 2S0,
Pauline Tranfield
(604) 248-6607
Box 3222,
Courtenay,, BC V9N 5N4
Betty Lunam
(604) 338-6055
comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca
The Comox Valley is internationally recognized as an "Important Bird Area" and only a short drive from Parksville. Remarkable birding hotspots like the Courtenay River Estuary and Goose Spit always provide excellent birding.
INFORMATION RESOURCES
groups.yahoo.com/group/bcbirdingvanisland/
This eGroup may be the best source of current information on birding for the whole Island. The Mid-Island is well-represented, and significant bird sighting information is usually posted immediately. As well, by checking through postings from past years, you can anticipate birding events and happenings for the present and future.
This new eGroup was designed to supplement the former by serving as a collector for photographs. Over 200 Island birds are on file, and more will be added as photos are available. Some photos are in albums while others are in files.
Although this is a provincial site, it does publish regular Rare Bird Alerts (RBA) for the Nanaimo and Victoria. It also contains a lot of other excellent information particularly about birding locations in Victoria and Duncan as well as a Victoria Checklist and bird specialties.
Guy Monty Bird Guiding - information pending