December 14 2014

Sunday morning, December 14, 2014


**  Dave Christie updates on the BARN OWL [Effraie des clochers]. Dave and a group made a vigil at Saint-Marcel till 6:10 p.m. on Saturday, but the owl did not appear. It might still be at other suitable hunting fields in the area, but could be a challenge to locate.

The LONG-BILLED CURLEW [Courlis à long bec] was still in Cape Tormentine on Saturday, and the GOLDEN EAGLE and SNOWY OWL [Harfang des neiges] reported again at Tantramar Marsh.


**  Rosaire Richard reports that the male NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] has become a regular in his Cocagne feeder yard, having been present every day for the past two weeks.

**  Margaret Doyle in Campbellton captured some awesome photos# of a COOPER'S HAWK [Épervier de Cooper] there. Distinguishing a Cooper’s Hawk from a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun] can be a challenge in some cases but Margaret’s photos show the underpart striping of this juvenile being very narrow and not extending as far down the belly as on a Sharp-shinned. The length of the outer tail feathers that are considerably shorter than those in the centre is another feature. This is not always reliable due to moulting. The bird Margaret photographed had taken a ROCK PIGEON [Pigeon biset], which is a favorite prey of Cooper’s Hawk. Thank you Margaret for sharing your good fortune.

**  A few of us made a run around Jones Lake [in Moncton] on Saturday afternoon. There is a very significant amount of fruiting multiflora rose [Rosier multiflore], especially on the northern side, along with apples, crabapples, mountain-ash [sorbier] and highbush cranberry [Viorne trilobée] to please lots of winter birds that are fruit connoisseurs. We did spot a cooperative NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur polyglotte] foraging on mountain-ash berries and an AMERICAN ROBIN [Merle d'Amérique] doing the same. In the photos# it’s interesting to note the sharp demarcation on the neck of the Mockingbird in one photo when the head turned to the side to show the back of the head and neck. A photo of multiflora rose is also attached#.

** A photo# that I took on Monday evening of the BARN OWL [Effraie des clochers] is only documentary due to the distance, but turned out better than expected. I had not even checked it, after seeing Carmella’s photos.

**  It’s that time of year when ENGLISH HOLLY [Houx commun] planted in home gardens is at its best. I’m attaching a photo# of the bright berries and leaves, along with the structures on the nearby male plants.

Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton