Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 14 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December 14, 2017 ( Thursday )

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

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

Peter Gadd advises the Mistle Thrush is back to its favoured Mountain Ash tree this morning at 473 Manny Drive in Miramichi Thursday morning.

** Louise Nichols was out on the Lower West Marsh Rd. on the Tantramar Marsh on Wednesday. The raptor activity there was lively with six NORTHERN HARRIERS [Busard Saint-Martin], six ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS [Buse pattue], one of which was a dark morph, and eight BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche] between there and the High Marsh Rd. She saw four Bald Eagles foraging on the ground with AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille d'Amérique] around them but could not see what their interest was. Louise got no photos of the raptor action due to distance, but was pleased to see a RED FOX [Renard roux] contentedly curled up and grooming itself by a pond. Louise comments that she could not help thinking how much it looked and moved like our domestic dogs. An interesting comment as selection breeding has been going on for some time to breed a Red Fox with traits that would make them a companion animal.

** Louise and Maurice Richard report that they are seeing a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur polyglotte] around their Jones Lake area home off and on. They suspect that this may well be the same bird that has followed this routine for the past five years. This may also be the same bird that Jim Edsall recently saw on Prince St., across the lake from the Richards.

** Jamie Burris' resident MERLIN [Faucon émerillon] to his Riverview yard came in out of the morning fog and grabbed a MOURNING DOVE [Tourterelle triste] that was late to lift off. She dispatched it quickly and flew off with it in her talons. A Mourning Dove seems like large prey for a Merlin, but certainly not for this gal.

** Fred Richards in Taylor Village had seven Turkeys wandering about his yard on the weekend. The very white tail tip that is showing on one would suggest that these are domestic birds that are now feral.

** Jean-Paul Leblanc reports that there were two pairs of NORTHERN SHOVELER [Canard souchet] ducks in the Bouctouche lagoon on Monday.

** The Christmas Bird Count is on for this coming Saturday, Dec. 16, under the direction of coordinator Roger Leblanc. Although the count day is Saturday, the "count period" for the area runs normally three days before and three days after the count day. However, as the official count period for the continental count starts Dec. 14th we have only Thursday and Friday, then Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as the Moncton count period. If you happen to see any unexpected birds during the count period for Moncton please advise Roger Leblanc at 852- 0863 or simply respond to the daily message. Birds of special interest would be Cooper's Hawk ( hint, hint ... Jamie Burris ), Peregrine Falcon, Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker and any other species that are out of season. A notice has gone out to all members with feeders to keep a count on Saturday as well, as this is being coordinated by the president, Susan Atkinson. Anyone wishing to join in on count day can phone Roger at 852-0863.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton