Nature Moncton Nature News: January 23 2015

** Georges Brun captured an incredible photo of a COMMON MERGANSER [Grand Harle] surfing the tidal bore as it came in on Thursday morning. Georges took the photo from the Chocolate River Station and saw the bird ride the wave right to the pool in front of the control structure.

** With COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flame] now joining us in greater numbers at feeder yards, the potential for the more uncommon HOARY REDPOLL [Sizerin blanchâtre] among them is increasing. On Thursday morning, Dave Christie spotted a male HOARY REDPOLL [Sizerin blanchâtre] on a nyger feeder at about 4 meters away at his Mary's Point feeder yard. Overall, it was markedly paler than the other Redpolls, less distinctly marked on its flanks with a broad, unstreaked white rump and a pale pink wash across its upper breast. He was able to reach his binoculars and see that its beak seemed shorter than on the Common Redpolls, but the bird flew away before he could study that feature or see its undertail coverts. And then later, he photographed an apparent female Hoary Redpoll in the bush near the feeders. Similarly pale and grayish, it had a rather short beak, some streaking on its flanks and a less large unstreaked area on the rump. He was unable to get a good view of the undertail coverts. In the photo, a few very pale pink spots are noticeable on the upper breast.

** Anne Marsch paid a visit to the MALLARD [Canard colvert] flock that comes to the corner of Hawthorne and Emery streets in the Point Park subdivision in Riverview. No other species were noted accompanying them as yet. Anne had a first visit of COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flame] to her Lower Coverdale feeder on Thursday, and an AMERICAN ROBIN [Merle d'Amérique] dropped by the heated water for refreshment. The female NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] continues to be a patron.

** Brain Stone got some action in Mapleton Park on Thursday -- a feeding frenzy of very predominantly MALLARD [Canard colvert] ducks when someone was there with food for them, and also photos of hybrids and a male AMERICAN BLACK DUCK [Canard noir]. The blend of genes appearing in these two species can make identification more of a challenge to separate them.

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca/.

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca