** Near her Taylor Village home on Sunday, Susan Richards
photographed a SNOWSHOE HARE [Lièvre d'Amérique] that has a few white spots, the
beginnings of its pelage change to white, but will not be ready for the upcoming
snow, if it indeed arrives soon.
** Aldo Dorio submits two more photos of the plover he saw with a GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier] on Saturday. These photos look much more convincing of an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER [Pluvier bronzé]; a strong white supercilium sets off the dark cap, some brown golden tones in the mantle area, longer primary projection, fine, smaller bill, and generally more petite appearance than on a Black-bellied Plover.
** Anne Marsch reports that activity is picking up in her Lower Coverdale feeder yard. Four AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] have arrived.
** Brian Stone has developed a close relationship with the GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] at Mapleton Park. It enjoyed showing off its fishing prowess to Brian on Sunday. He again spotted a different hybrid male MALLARD [Canard colvert] duck and got photos of it beside a non-hybrid male and female. It appears that the park is a bit of a hotbed for hybrids but maybe we just get to see them closer there.
Brian also came across two VIRGINIA CTENUCHA [Cténuche de Virginie] caterpillars on Sunday. This moth species overwinters in its larval stage, eventually going into a cocoon, and then the flying, dark blue adult next summer.
** Pat and I made a Sunday afternoon visit to the Tantramar Marsh and found lots of activity. Things got interesting when we spotted a group of AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille d'Amérique] harassing something on the Anderson Marsh Road, not far from its end near the red Prescott barn. We watched for a while before 5 SHORT-EARED OWLS [Hibou des marais] suddenly lifted off and flew very rapidly into a grassy bank, where they vanished despite careful optical checks of the area.
A very handsome male COMMON EIDER [Eider à duvet] went sailing by in the river, as we watched the grass bank, and a flock of approximately 250 SNOW BUNTINGS [Bruant des neiges] swirled around the area. Several NORTHERN HARRIERS [Busard Saint-Martin] were noted, in male, female and juvenile plumage. At least 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS [Buse pattue] were observed, including one dark morph, the rest light morph. Several BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche] were moving about, but the highlight was when Pat spotted an eagle that she said looked different. It remained a long way off but perched briefly in a tree for a few photos that suggest it to be a GOLDEN EAGLE [Aigle royal]. The dihedral flight pattern was noted and there appeared to be some white at the base of the tail. However, it was a long way off, with the tree hiding some features. Then it decided to fly even farther, but I’m fairly confident that it was indeed a Golden Eagle, very likely the same one that had been photographed earlier by Hank Scarth.
It must be a good year for VOLES [campagnols] to support all this activity on the Tantramar Marsh.
nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Nelson Poirier
** Aldo Dorio submits two more photos of the plover he saw with a GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier] on Saturday. These photos look much more convincing of an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER [Pluvier bronzé]; a strong white supercilium sets off the dark cap, some brown golden tones in the mantle area, longer primary projection, fine, smaller bill, and generally more petite appearance than on a Black-bellied Plover.
** Anne Marsch reports that activity is picking up in her Lower Coverdale feeder yard. Four AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] have arrived.
** Brian Stone has developed a close relationship with the GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] at Mapleton Park. It enjoyed showing off its fishing prowess to Brian on Sunday. He again spotted a different hybrid male MALLARD [Canard colvert] duck and got photos of it beside a non-hybrid male and female. It appears that the park is a bit of a hotbed for hybrids but maybe we just get to see them closer there.
Brian also came across two VIRGINIA CTENUCHA [Cténuche de Virginie] caterpillars on Sunday. This moth species overwinters in its larval stage, eventually going into a cocoon, and then the flying, dark blue adult next summer.
** Pat and I made a Sunday afternoon visit to the Tantramar Marsh and found lots of activity. Things got interesting when we spotted a group of AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille d'Amérique] harassing something on the Anderson Marsh Road, not far from its end near the red Prescott barn. We watched for a while before 5 SHORT-EARED OWLS [Hibou des marais] suddenly lifted off and flew very rapidly into a grassy bank, where they vanished despite careful optical checks of the area.
A very handsome male COMMON EIDER [Eider à duvet] went sailing by in the river, as we watched the grass bank, and a flock of approximately 250 SNOW BUNTINGS [Bruant des neiges] swirled around the area. Several NORTHERN HARRIERS [Busard Saint-Martin] were noted, in male, female and juvenile plumage. At least 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS [Buse pattue] were observed, including one dark morph, the rest light morph. Several BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche] were moving about, but the highlight was when Pat spotted an eagle that she said looked different. It remained a long way off but perched briefly in a tree for a few photos that suggest it to be a GOLDEN EAGLE [Aigle royal]. The dihedral flight pattern was noted and there appeared to be some white at the base of the tail. However, it was a long way off, with the tree hiding some features. Then it decided to fly even farther, but I’m fairly confident that it was indeed a Golden Eagle, very likely the same one that had been photographed earlier by Hank Scarth.
It must be a good year for VOLES [campagnols] to support all this activity on the Tantramar Marsh.
nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Nelson Poirier
Nature
Moncton
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER.NOV 21, 2015..ALDO DORIO
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER.NOV 21, 2015..ALDO DORIO
COMMON EIDER (MALE).NOV 22, 2015.NELSON POIRIER
DUNLIN.NOV 21, 2015.ALDO DORIO
GOLDEN EAGLE.NOV 22, 2015.NELSON POIRIER (2)
GOLDEN EAGLE.NOV 22, 2015.NELSON POIRIER (2)
GOLDEN EAGLE.NOV 22, 2015.NELSON POIRIER (2)
GREAT BLUE HERON FISHING. NOV. 22, 2015. BRIAN STONE
MALLARD HYBRID DUCK 01. NOV. 22, 2015. BRIAN STONE
MALLARD HYBRID DUCK ASIDE PURE MALE MALLARD. NOV. 22, 2015. BRIAN STONE
MALLARD HYBRID DUCK ASIDE PURE MALE MALLARD. NOV. 22, 2015. BRIAN STONE
SNOWSHOE HARE.NOV 22, 2015.SUSAN RICHARDS
VIRGINIA CTENUCHA MOTH CATERPILLAR 01. NOV. 22, 2015. BRIAN STONE
VIRGINIA CTENUCHA MOTH CATERPILLARS. NOV. 22, 2015. BRIAN STONE
