Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 17 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Sep. 17, 2017 (Sunday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Carmella Melanson joined the Acadian Peninsula naturalists on Saturday to get a report of a MARBLED GODWIT [Barge marbrée] just past the bridge to Miscou Island. They all went over and found it waiting for them and putting on a great show, revealing the cinnamon underwing compared to the dark underwing of the more commonly seen here Hudsonian Godwit [Barge hudsonienne]. Carmella also includes some nice photos of it with BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER [Pluvier argenté] and DUNLIN [Bécasseau variable]. Note in one photo, the black “armpit” diagnostic of the Black-bellied Plover, nicely showing as it banked in flight. Carmella comments that this Marbled Godwit may be the same one found earlier at Malbaie Sud by Frank Branch and Michel Roy.

** Léon Gagnon got a great photo of a FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER [Tyran des savanes] that paid a visit near his Wilson Point summer home on Miscou on Friday; the very long tail suggests an adult bird. Many will recall the forest fire that hit Miscou in the Wilson Point area. Léon attaches a photo that shows the foliage starting to grow back in the burned-over area near his home. He also shares a great photo of an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER [Moucherolle à côtés olive] taken on August 15; note the signature ‘unbuttoned' vest, as well as a photo of a SAY’S PHOEBE [Moucherolle à ventre roux] on September 12. A very pleasing selection of late-season drop-bys at Wilson Point.

** An interesting mushroom transplant scenario for Jamie Burris. Jamie found a SHAGGY PARASOL [? en français] mushroom in 2014 and transplanted it along with some attached mycelium to his Riverview yard. In 2016 several nice Shaggy Parasols appeared in the same spot where he had planted the one two years earlier. Another photo shows one that appeared in the same spot this past Friday. The last photo shows the tasty edible in the frying pan. They are firm and moist. Jamie comments that the flavour reminds him of buttery hazelnut and the texture is like that of Shitake mushroom. He places this species high among his favourite wild mushrooms but cautions folks not experienced with mushrooms that this species does have non-edible look-alikes.

** Dave Christie was surprised to come across a BOBCAT [Lynx roux] on the road, as he drove over Caledonia Mountain in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. It quickly leaped into the woods when encountered. Dave also saw a NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin] very persistently escorting a young BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche] out of its territory on the Shepody Marsh later on Saturday afternoon. The Harrier seemed fairly large so Dave assumed it to be a female.

** Jennifer Brennan got a photo of a domestic GOOSE [oie domestique] that came up and swam alongside a kayaker at Sea Grove Beach at Tidnish Crossing in Nova Scotia on September 15, that gave all present a big surprise. These domestic geese can surely be in a wide range of plumages. Ron Arsenault gave a nice commentary from experience he has had with domestic breeds. I am quoting Ron below to share it with others.

“Sure is a domestic goose. The knob on the head and the dark stripe on the back of the neck suggests that this bird has Anser cygnoides ancestry. The wild bird is known as the Swan-goose while the domestic descendants are known as both African Geese and Chinese Geese.

However, this bird has a reddish bill, less contrast between the throat area and back of the neck and a reduced knob than I would expect on a Chinese/African Goose. These birds readily hybridize with other breeds under domestic conditions. Thus, I suspect that it has something else (i.e. a domestic breed descendant from Anser anser) somewhere in its background. However, while I have never seen a Chinese Goose with a red bill nor such a reduced knob, I cannot be absolutely sure that such a breed does not exist, nor can I rule out some genetic aberration, but an Anser anser breed in its ancestry seems likeliest.”

** Brian and Annette Stone paid a visit to Highland Park in Salisbury on Saturday and got some nice nature photo action. Brian comments that the sound of the BEES [abeilles] in the huge masses of ASTERS [asters] blooming at the moment sounded like a large propeller plane droning in the distance. He got an interesting sequence of a GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] catching and swallowing a quite large fish that looked like a WHITE SUCKER [Meunier noir], a mushroom just pushing the earth aside to emerge, an over and under photo of a PAINTED LADY [Belle dame] butterfly, a juvenile PIED-BILLED GREBE [Grèbe à bec bigarré], an EASTERN PHOEBE [Moucherolle phébi], a CADDISFLY [], GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS [Grand et Petit Chevaliers] side by side, a distant TURKEY VULTURE [Urubu à tête rouge ], a BANDED KILLIFISH [Petit barré], a NORTHERN LEOPARD FROG [Grenouille léopard], and a SPOTTED SPREADWING DAMSELFLY [Leste tardif].

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton