Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 6, 2015

**John Inman still had his WHITE-WINGED DOVE [Tourterelle à ailes blanches] present in his 225 Mary’s Point Rd. yard on Wednesday. However; it seems shy, possibly due to the activity of the local SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun] and MERLIN [Faucon émerillon] monitoring the area.

** Louise Nicols visited Anne’s Acres on Wednesday morning for a shorebird tally, to get 9 species, a very pleasant variety. She saw GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier, LESSER YELLOWLEGS [Petit Chevalier], SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS [Pluvier semipalmé, WILLETS [Chevalier semipalmé] SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS [Bécassin roux], SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau semipalmé], LEAST SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau minuscule], a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER [Bécasseau à croupion blanc, 2 RUDDY TURNSTONES [Tournepierre à collier], to get photos to share.

** Dave Christie comments recently that they only seem to be seeing a few dozen shorebirds on the Mary’s Point beach at high tide so he circumvented Mary’s Point to see where they may be roosting. As he rather suspected a similar scenario to last year was happening. He found tens of thousands on the rocks by the old quarry at the outer part of the point, facing Nova Scotia. He suspects that’s where they are staying until the high tide recedes. A MERLIN [Faucon émerillon] did arrive while he was there to take a shorebird. As expected the group was very predominately SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau semipalmé] but a notable number of SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS [Pluvier semipalmé, but noted no other species.

**Brian Stone shares some recent photos to include some of the Johnson’s Mills shorebirds a week ago. A successful brood of ducklings, nearly the size of their mother and some views from picturesque Slack’s Cove, near Rockport past the Johnson’s Mills site along with a historic marker there. It was also at the top of that hill that we found the GREEN-FRINGED ORCHIS surveying its domain.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton