Nature Moncton Nature News: Feb 20 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, February 20, 2018 ( Tuesday )

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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)

** A final heads up on the February Nature Moncton meeting coming up tonight, Tuesday night, at 7:00 pm at the Mapleton Rotary Lodge across from Cabela's. The presenter this month will be Dan Hicks from the City of Moncton's Parks and Leisure Services. Dan is responsible for Moncton's parks and trails and has applied his arborist background to provide many interesting tree plantings within the city. Dan will go over the City of Moncton's present activities and responsibilities and talk of future plans that the city has on the drawing board. The show and tell table will be set up front so bring along anything of interest that you may have come across to share with the group. Also bring along any photos you have to share on a flash drive.

** Gabriel Gallant came across a trail and tracks that he is very suspicious was made by a FISHER. The trail and tracks are indeed consistent with a Fisher. The Fisher is a mammal that will commonly prey on Porcupines successfully and Gabriel has found two preyed upon porcupines in the area to add more clues to build a case. Gabriel has suspected a Fisher to be in the woods near his Sainte-Marie-de-Kent home, however the Fisher is a very elusive mammal to get observations of. Gabriel is trying to get more evidence from a trail camera. There are more Fishers around than we are aware of, but due to their very secretive nocturnal and arboreal behaviour we don't see much of them.
I am attaching a few photos that George Sinclair got of a FISHER on a trail camera in the Fundy National Park area some years ago.

** Brian Coyle was out looking for wildlife track and sign going into fields and wooded areas off Lower Mountain Rd. He was able to find COYOTE, WEASEL, BOBCAT and MINK tracks. Note the roundness, lack of a nail print , and "C" impression in the center of the Bobcat's track. The Mink trail shows the distinctive narrow tail drag. The Coyote track shows the cone/pyramid mark in the middle of the track. The nails did not register, possibly due to the soft snow. The Coyote scat photo shows the hair content that makes it tapered and the diameter would be 3/4 inch plus. He also saw a Coyote moving about, but knew that there were several more around from the tracks.
** Audrey Goguen puts out apples to attract winter bird fruit connoisseurs and was pleased to have an AMERICAN ROBIN [Merle d'Amérique] come by on Monday to partake at her 16 Northview Ave. yard in Moncton. In the past Audrey has often had Robins and Waxwings to apples impaled on a tree in front of her home in the spring.
** I am attaching some photos that Yolande Leblanc got of her CLAY-COLORED SPARROW [Bruant des plaines] visitors from her window at her Memramcook feeder that show some this species features from different angles. It appears in one photo that the two are in the same photo.
** Brian Stone was in the Notre Dame and Saint Thomas wharf area to get a few excellent photos of COMMON MERGANSER [Grand Harle] genders in full breeding plumage. A flight photo of an apparent HERRING GULL [Goéland argenté] shows the dark tail band nicely to indicate immaturity. A photo of adult Herring Gulls and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS [Goéland marin] side by side shows that both have clean,white, unstreaked heads. The Great Black-backed Gull keeps a clean white head all winter as an adult, but the Herring Gull takes on a streaked head in winter plumage. The fact that the Herring Gull has taken on an unstreaked head suggests that the moult to spring plumage has begun. Brian also photographed some Snowshoe Hare tracks. Note the smaller front feet that land at an angle to each other.

More great gull photos. Carmella Melanson was in the Black’s Harbour area to get a beautiful photo of a posing Glaucous Gull. Note the clean white unstreaked head and black bill tip starting to diminish to indicate moulting from 2nd winter plumage has begun. The eye is also very yellow. In a second photo, Carmella nicely shows the size differential of our 3 largest gulls with the larger Great-blacked Gull averaging 30 in., the Glaucous Gull averaging 27 in, and the Herring Gull averaging 25 in. A lucky moment for sure to get these three species aligned so neatly to show that differential. I use the wording 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winter plumage as this is the terminology in most guides but this is being replaced by the term ‘cycle’ in newer guides and gull publications.