Nature Moncton Nature News: Feb 25 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Feb. 25, 2018 (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)

** The Nature Moncton FEEDER TOUR went off successfully on Saturday. All appreciation to Jean Renton for her kind, much appreciated breakfast start with the bird feeders as a background. It was a great start to the day of fellowship and birding. The ducks in Mapleton Park were welcoming on the second stop. Thanks to Brian Coyle and Wendy Sullivan for hosting the next stops. Final stop was at Pat and Nelson Poirier’s. Pat’s well-set table of vittles was appreciated while lots of sparrows and expected birds entertained.

It was a pleasant day with a large group of participants. Birds were not abundant but PURPLE FINCH [Roselin pourpré] was nice to see at the Renton and the bright yellow patches on some AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES [Chardonneret jaune] were noted. Staff photographer Brian Stone caught some of the action!

** Mark calendars off for Nature Moncton's next event, an afternoon with the gulls at the Recycle NBland fill site, with guide Roger LeBlanc, taking place next Saturday at 1:00 PM, meeting at the main gates of the recycling facility. The full write-up is at www.naturemoncton.com under 'upcoming events.’ While there, check on other upcoming events; two more, to a woodlot and a field trip to see the spring waterfowl have yet to be firmed up but are in preparation.

** Dave Christie reports on the seemingly odd scenario this year, of single to a few PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins] showing up around bird feeder yards, when usually they arrive in flocks. On Thursday both Dave and John Inman, in the Mary’s Point area, had one Pine Siskin arrive in their yard, but they did not feed. Saturday morning, Dave had one siskin come down to join the AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES [Chardonneret jaune] at the nyjer seed feeder.

The abnormal openness of the countryside seems to be making for fewer birds at feeders in general, with more wild food available to them. There seems like lots of birds in the woods, although that scenarios could change very quickly if real wintry weather arrives, but it seems to be holding off nicely. It’s almost March, but chances are that winter weather will drop by again.

** Georges Brun has commented on several occasions on seeing many small spiders travelling over the snow on the Riverview Marsh. He detained a specimen and left it for photos. I usually cool down specimens for cooperative photos, but no amount of cooling had any effect on this, obviously well adapted spider. After placing it in a dish with several drops of ethyl acetate it briefly went into an anaesthetic state and some photos over and under were obtained. BugGuide has not responded yet, but I found some similar scenarios on Google that seem to match it as one of the very numerous GROUND SPIDER species of the family included in the photo labelling.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton