NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, February 21, 2018
(Wednesday)
Please advise editor at nelson@nb.sympatico.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.
Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Transcript by: Catherine Johnson johnson2@xplornet.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
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** Unfortunately Mother Nature's sudden freezing rain cancelled the Nature Moncton meeting scheduled for Tuesday night. The planned presenter Dan Hicks has agreed to give his presentation in the second half of an upcoming meeting to make that night into a double bill.
** Georges Brun took note of the highway of rodent
tracks of voles and shrews on the Riverview marsh. This is no doubt the reason
that SHORT-EARED OWLS, NORTHERN HARRIER, RED-TAILED HAWK, SNOWY OWL, COYOTE and
FOX have been seen on the marsh. GEORGES also got a nice photo of an adult
ICELAND GULL that nicely shows the off pinkish legs, longer primary projection
of the wings compared to the GLAUCOUS GULL sent by Carmella Melanson yesterday,
as well as the smaller less macho bill.
** Sterling Marsh got a photo of an adult RED-TAILED
HAWK as it floated over the field in the area of Harrisville Blvd on Sunday.
The brilliant rust-red tail of the adult displayed at its finest.
**Yolande Leblanc noted a different pattern with her
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW patrons to her Memramcook yard. Both were present early
Monday morning but later in the day only one was seen at a time and on Tuesday
only one was being seen. She wonders if maybe they are being shared with Jules
Cormier's feeder and hopefully one is not fallen prey to
something.
** I noted an ASH tree on a Moncton street infected with
an ASH FLOWER GALL Tuesday. This is very commonly seen on the many Ash trees
along the Saint John river in the Jemseg-Maugerville area. It's caused by a
mite that feeds on the male flowers of ash trees. It does not kill the tree or
in any way severely effect its health but in the eyes of some may appear
unsightly. We tend to see it in the winter when the tree is leafless. The
formations the gall mite leaves turn brown and remain on the tree in winter.
When they appear in the summer, the gall structures are green and normally go
unnoticed.
** The next Nature Moncton event to take place will be
the annual bird feeder tour to take place this coming Saturday, February 24.
The meeting place will be at the Moncton Coliseum parking lot
in the north-west corner at 8:30 am. The first stop will be to Billy and Jean
Renton's in Stilesville who always have active bird feeders but the highlight is
the annual breakfast they serve up of pancakes with all the fixin's! This is a
very special start to the day. A dropbox will be out to put a dollar in to
cover costs. From there the group will convoy to some other selected spots to
end up at Nelson and Pat Poirier's in the afternoon. Everyone is welcome,
Nature Moncton member or not.
ASH TREE SHOWING ASH FLOWER GALL. FEB 20, 2018.NELSON POIRIER
ASH TREE SHOWING ASH FLOWER GALL. FEB 20, 2018.NELSON POIRIER
ICELAND GULL FEB 19 2018 GEORGES BRUN
RED-TAILED HAWK. FEB 18, 2018. STERLING MARSH
RODENT TRAIL HIGHWAY FEB 18 2017 GEORGES BRUN
