Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 27, 2015

** The Nature Moncton Activities Committee met on Monday to line up some future activities. Things will kick off with a Field Trip this coming Saturday, October 31, to the Sackville Waterfall Park and possibly the fields behind the Sackville Town garage, where some interesting shorebird and duck activity has occurred. Meet at the Sackville Tourist Information Centre at 12 noon, high tide is around 3 pm which should increase the chance of shorebirds in the Sackville Waterfall Park. There’s no official guide for this outing but Louise Nichols who knows the Sackville Waterfowl Park so well will be there. On Monday afternoon there were lots of ducks there: PIED-BILLED GREBE [Grèbe à bec bigarré] and an AMERICAN COOT [Foulque d’Amérique]. Shorebirds come and go. No registration is required for this field trip, just be at the Sackville Tourist Information Centre by the Sackville Waterfowl Park at 12 noon Saturday to join the group.

** David and Bonnie Miller had an awesome birding day on Saturday between their Salisbury home and Saint John. The Hampton Lagoons were actioned packed with 4 TURKEY VULTURES [Urubu à tête rouge], 30 BUFFLEHEAD [Petit Garrot] ducks, 5 RUDDY DUCKS [Érismature rousse], COMMON GOLDENEYE [Garrot à oeil d’or], GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron], GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier], and 3 NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] were in the town in Hampton. A stop at Hannover St in Saint John got 16 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau semipalmé], 2 HUDSONIAN GODWITS [Barge hudsonienne] and 6 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS [Bécassin à long bec]. They were able to confirm the Dowitchers as long billed with the help of Gilles Belliveau who joined them. Dave was out owling on Monday morning at 2:15 am but did not hear any owls vocalizing until between 6 and 7:30 am when he heard one BARRED OWL [Chouette rayée] and 4 GREAT HORNED OWLS [Grand-duc d’Amérique]. This was on the Taylor Rd off Route 112.

** Dave Christie got a belated report from Sandy Burnett of an adult male SUMMER TANAGER [Tangara vermillon] that Lorrie Hawkins photographed in Dieppe onTuesday October the 20th in a Crab Apple tree in her yard near the Fox Creek golf course. It stayed for several minutes and Lorrie was able to get documentary photos adequate to show its identity. This bird has not been reported since.

** Clarence Cormier came across a female NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin] perched in a tree in above a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] that was below and quite alarmed by the Hawk above. Possibly the Grouse had little reason for concern as Clarence noted an EASTERN CHIPMUNK [Suisse] nearby that very likely was what the Harrier had on its mind.

** As the intertidal outing was missed last weekend, will share a Crab we probably would have seen, which I came across on Monday at Cape Enrage. The GREEN CRAB is an invasive species. They are not always green as in the attached photo, but one way to help identify them is the 5 teeth like projections on either side of the eye area. The native Rock Crab and Jonah Crab would have 9 projections on each side of the eye. An underside view shows the specimen to be a female due to the very large triangular tail section.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton