** Anna Tucker captured a photo of the striking sunset of Wednesday with
perfect timing, a beautiful sky display.
** Brian Stone and I headed towards Shediac, Grand-Digue, Cocagne,
Bouctouche, and Haute-St.-Antoine on Wednesday afternoon. The pleasant sun gave
us a great opportunity to get bird observations at several sites. There is a
nice, confined area of open water at the Foch bridge by the big lobster to get
great views of Goldeneyes, many of which were BARROW'S GOLDENEYES [ Garrot
d'Islande ]. It was easy to compare the two species, to compare both genders and
first winter males and first winter females. The complete near-orange bill of
the female Barrow's Goldeneye compared to the orange-tipped bills of the female
COMMON GOLDENEYES [ Garrot a oeil d'or ] was easily seen. The white crescent
head mark and piano-key back markings of the male Barrow's vs the circular head
patch and lack of piano-key spots of the Common made the males easy to
differentiate. The steep forehead of the Barrow's Goldeneye vs the slanting
forehead of the Common Goldeneye could also be noted readily.
Several COMMON MERGANSERS [ Grand Harle ] were also at that site. It's a
great time to visit that site.
A few flocks of a hundred to a hundred and fifty Waxwings were spotted,
seemingly all BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [ Jaseur boreal ] at Cocagne Bridge. There were
Goldeneyes and Mergansers, but with a large area of open water they were
difficult to get good observations of, as was the same scenario at the Buctouche
River bridges.
A lot of ducks were present at the Buctouche lagoon, predominantly MALLARDS
[ Canard colvert ], some AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS [ Canard noir ], some COMMON
MERGANSERS [ Grand Harle ], but special were two pairs of NORTHERN PINTAILS [
Canard pilet ] which must be overwintering there as Gilles Bourque reported that
species there a few weeks ago.
A surprise appearance at the Bouctouche lagoon was a BELTED KINGFISHER [
Martin-pecheur d'Amerique ] that was vocalizing.
A visit to a scrap meat dump in Haute-St.-Antoine found a lot of cleanly
picked bones after being gleaned by RAVENS [ Grand corbeau ] and BALD EAGLES [
Pygargue a tete blanche ]. A surprising number of DOWNY WOODPECKERS [Pic mineur
] and HAIRY WOODPECKERS [ Pic chevelu ] were at this site for the booty as well.
We overdid the photo effort, but it was an ideal day to do just that, so
the overload of photos are shared.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE (MALE AND FEMALE). FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE (MALE). FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE.MALE AND TWO FEMALES FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
BARROW'S GOLDENEYES (FIRST WINTER MALE AT FRONT). FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
BARROW'S GOLDENEYES (FIRST WINTER MALE AT FRONT). FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS 01. FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS 01. FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
COMMON MERGANSER ( FEMALE ). FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
COMMON MERGANSERS (MALE AND 3 FEMALES). FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
GOLDENEYE.( BARROW'S AND COMMON) (1ST WINTER MALE BARROW'S AT LOWER RIGHT) FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
GOLDENEYE.( BARROW'S AND COMMON) FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
NORTHERN PINTAIL (FEMALE). FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER.
NORTHERN PINTAIL (MALE AND FEMALE). FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER
NORTHERN PINTAIL DUCK ( MALE ) 03. FEB. 10, 2016. BRIAN STONE
SCRAP MEAT PILE.HAUTE ST. ANTOINE.FEB 10, 2016.NELSON POIRIER.
SUNSET.FEB 10, 2016.ANNA TUCKER
