Nature Moncton Nature News: March 29 2018

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NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, March 29, 2018 ( 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)

** Eric Wilson spotted a BELTED KINGFISHER [Martin-pêcheur d'Amérique] on the Murray Beach Rd., Route 955, over a small brook on Stillman Rd. on Wednesday morning. This is among the early ones for sure, but we should be expecting them to return as soon as some streams start to be ice free.

** Alain Clavette reports that a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL [Petite nyctale] was vocalizing for the second night on Wednesday night in a tree in his Memramcook yard. Great to hear two reports now of this leprechaun of our owls starting to establish their territories. Alain had his first flock of COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale bronzé] and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS [Carouge à épaulettes] arrive to his feeder yard on Tuesday. Alain also saw his first flying insect in his car lights on Tuesday night. He suspected it to be a moth, which is very possible as there are some moth species that overwinter as adults and are ready to boogie at the first signs of warmth.

** Louise Nichols visited the Saint Thomas wharf, Cocagne Bridge, Cassie Cape, Point-du-Chene and Cap Brule lagoon on Tuesday. For the most part the ice was far more extensive than on the day of the sea duck field trip. Louise attaches a photo of the ice at Saint Thomas. The ducks were there, but they were far out. Between Saint Thomas and Cocagne Bridge she saw most of the expected sea duck species but could not get photos of all of them. Cassie Cape was very iced in with some open water to the right of the wharf as you drive in but there were no sea ducks there. Point-du-Chene was completely iced in. She couldn't see any water for as far as she could see at that site.
The sea duck photos were all taken at either the Cocagne bridge or the Cap Brule lagoon. There were 25 BARROW'S GOLDENEYES [Garrot d'Islande] at Cap Brule and 4 COMMON GOLDENEYES [Garrot à oeil d'or]. The COMMON MERGANSERS [Grand Harle] at Cocagne were all very frisky. A group of males seemed to be after one female. One of her photos shows the male lifting his tail, which he did repeatedly to impress the female. One photo shows a male Barrow's Goldeneye and a male Common Goldeneye for a nice comparison shot. Louise comments that we are going to have to wait for the ice to finally go out or for the wind to move it so that the ducks will be closer.

** Doreen Rossiter leaves some signs of spring from her Alma yard. On March 15 four SONG SPARROWS [Bruant chanteur] arrived to join the two that had overwintered. COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale bronzé] and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS [Carouge à épaulettes] came in from February 28 to March 10 but she has not seen one in her yard since. The flocks varied in size from 3 to 25. AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle d'Amérique] have been on and off with 12 on March 10 and varying in number from 1 to 6 since.
Doreen has 4 AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille d'Amérique] that have become very tame, looking in windows and coming to doors to remind her that it is feeding time. Doreen has watched two particular one's behavior with interest in recent days. One will gather material from a Day Lily patch and place the selections in a pile on the snow, and a second crow, assumedly a mate, will come and pick up the placed material and carry it off. Doreen has seen Crows gather these materials in previous years but not seen this level of cooperation between individuals.

** Clarence Cormier reports that he has both a NORTHERN GOSHAWK [Autour des palombes] and a juvenile SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun] creating a buzz around his active Grande Digue feeder yard. There doesn't seem to be many Northern Goshawks reported this winter. John Innman's yard at 225 Mary's Point Rd. would seem to be the exception to that.

** Robert Shortall had an interesting encounter with a cow MOOSE [Orignal] on a trail between Sainte-Anne and Richibucto Village on Tuesday. She was on the trail approximately 600 meters away but then turned and came towards him. He stepped back into the bushes and she went by, then Robert went up the trail to where she was and encountered 4 ticks on the snow that had fallen off or been rubbed off. They were dime sized and plumply engorged with blood. These are Moose Ticks, aka Winter Tick. They are our largest tick in New Brunswick and overwinter on Moose to fall off in the spring to complete their life cycle. These ticks are very specific to Moose and are no danger to humans whatsoever.
Over 90% of new Brunswick ticks are either the Moose tick or the Snowshoe Hare tick. Both are very specific to these animals and will not feed on other species. It is the much less common, but much more problematic, Black-legged Tick that are not host specific and will get on humans and other animals including our pets. The Groundhog tick will also get on humans and pets but is not recognized as a vector of the Lyme disease organism as is the Black-legged Tick.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton