Nature Moncton Nature News: Feb 14 2016

** The monthly Nature Moncton meeting is coming up at 7 p.m., Tuesday, February 16, at the Mapleton Rotary Lodge, located across the road from Cabela’s. Our guest speaker, Nicholas LeComte, from the Université de Moncton, will have some very interesting information to share on the life and times of the SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER [Bécasseau semipalmé], which was historically the most widespread and numerous shorebird species in the Western Hemisphere. Nicholas and his colleagues have done some ground-breaking investigations with the use of geo-locators attached to the birds on their wintering grounds and on the breeding grounds. The results are showing ways to understand their decline in order to address the reason why it is happening. Nicholas will be letting us re-visit one of our favourite summer events, the shorebird migration. All are welcome.

The meeting on Tuesday night will be chaired by Dale Gaskin. The search for new officers is under way to fill the vacancies, and lots of changes are being considered. The business meeting will be shortened considerably, with that part of the meeting more directed to upcoming activities and it is planned to bring some liveliness to the “sightings” portion; any members with photos or items to project for the group should bring them along on a flash drive or stick to share with the group.

** The Nature Moncton bird-feeder tour turned out to be a great day of fellowship and birding, with so many eyes on the watch on Saturday. The day got off to a well-fuelled start with the generous hospitality of Jean and Billy Renton and their family, with a feed of home-made beans, sausage and pancakes, tastefully flipped by Billy Renton. The EVENING GROSBEAK [Gros-bec errant] display was very appreciated during that visit, and there were lots of expected regulars.

The excitement grew at Jamie and Karen Burris’s in Riverview, when a gull came over that was thought to be the GLAUCOUS GULL [Goéland bourgmestre] but turned out to be a first-winter ICELAND GULL [Goéland arctique] that had great interest in some leftover pizza, which also attracted some other gull kin. A subadult BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche] circled the area; it appeared to be a third year bird.

The ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER [Paruline verdâtre] did not check in at the Childs’ in Riverview, but an adult RED-TAILED HAWK [Buse à queue rousse] created quite a stir among the local AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille d’Amérique].

Some large flocks of waxwings were spotted. The Burrises saw a flock of approximately 500 over Cleveland Avenue in Riverview, while Louise Nichols and Judy and Stirling Marsh came across a flock of 1000+ in the Arlington Drive area of Moncton’s West End. They were overwhelmingly BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal], but some CEDAR WAXWINGS [Jaseur d'Amérique] were present for sure at Susan Atkinson’s and Anna Tucker got photos of them.

Lots of sparrows, and re-fueling victuals ended the day at Pat and Nelson Poirier’s, where the immature WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW [Bruant à couronne blanche] cooperated for everyone. Special thanks to the hosts and organizers for making a special day happen.

** There surely has been lots of interest in activity of the waxwing contingent visiting this winter. Dave Miller got a nice photo of CEDAR WAXWINGS [Jaseur d'Amérique] and BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal] together in the same crabapple tree on Jan. 29, to point out some of the unique features of each species to identify them. The number of Bohemian Waxwings may be extremely high this year, however the Cedar Waxwing component is significant as well, which in past winters has not been the norm.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton