Nature Moncton Nature News: January 11 2015

** Richard Blacquiere comments that while out for a walk in the beautiful cold conditions on Saturday, he noted “DIAMOND DUST” glittering in the air, which he caught in a photo# that shows the crystals glittering in a shaft of light coming through a tree. Richard says that there were just the right conditions of cold, clear and calm, cold enough that water vapour turns directly into ice, clear enough that the sun makes the ice crystals sparkle, and calm enough for the ice crystals to appear to hang in the air. The phenomenon is detailed at the following website http://wxguys.ssec.wisc.edu/2011/01/09/what-is-diamond-dust/

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** Jeanette and Roger Gaudet noted a BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche] contentedly perched on an Osprey nest across from the Alouette Motel in Grand-Barachois on Saturday. Jeanette also mentions that they had a PINE GROSBEAK [Durbec des sapins] strike a house window on Friday. It spent a time recovering, then seemed to fly off fine.

** Jules Cormier comments that Saturday was a wonderful day at his Memramcook feeder yard, after the storm. Among birds welcomed were PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins], COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flammé], SONG SPARROWS [Bruant chanteur], AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien], WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH [Sittelle à poitrine blanche], EVENING GROSBEAKS [Gros-bec errant], AMERICAN ROBIN [Merle d'Amérique] and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER [Pic à ventre roux], and other expected regulars. The Red-bellied Woodpecker preferred whole corn kernels and black oil sunflower seed.

** Friday’s snow brought considerable bird activity at Dave Christie’s Mary's Point feeders: up to 12 each of DARK-EYED JUNCOS [Junco ardoisé] and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS [Bruant à gorge blanche] feeding on the ground; a group of about 20 PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins] fed heavily from the hanging sunflower and nyjer seed feeders and Dave noted one COMMON REDPOLL [Sizerin flammé]. On Saturday morning the siskins had increased to at least 30, with just one AMERICAN GOLDFINCH [Chardonneret jaune] feeding with them.

Late Saturday evening, Dave heard a tapping noise. It was one of his cats sitting on a windowsill and tapping the glass with a front paw. When he got a close look, he could see that there was a NORTHERN FLYING SQUIRREL [Grand Polatouche] feeding on sunflower seeds in the feeder mounted on the outside of the window frame. The cat’s movements and tapping didn’t seem to disturb the squirrel at all. It fed for at least 40 more minutes. This was the first flying squirrel that Dave has seen at his feeders in 4 or 5 years.

** Brian Stone and I made a pilgrimage to the Tantramar Marsh on Saturday afternoon. The vista was nothing short of stunning with the fresh snow and brilliant sunshine. We spotted a MUSKRAT [Rat musqué] foraging in the open and went fairly near it. It seemingly paid little heed to us, until it suddenly rose on its hind feet and attacked us. We let it be and it wandered off, realizing that it was in complete control.

At least three BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche] were noted, one light morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK [Buse pattue], a flock of 38 HORNED LARKS [Alouette hausse-col] with one SNOW BUNTING [Bruant des neiges] tagalong that shifted constantly between the two farms, and many RING-NECKED PHEASANTS [Faisan de Colchide]. The flight shots# of the larks and bunting show nicely the dark undertail of the larks compared to the white undertail of the Snow Bunting. A flight shot of the Rough-legged Hawk shows several nice identification features. Many of Brian’s shots were taken at a great distance.

Arriving back in Moncton at dusk with clear skies, one could nicely see VENUS and MERCURY come into view.

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca/. To see them in higher resolution if the original photo was taken that way, click on the Nature Moncton Photo bucket option at the Blogger site.

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca