Nature Moncton Nature News: June 5 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, June 05, 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)

** With the Festival of Nature now happened it's now time to enjoy a Nature Moncton outing, coming up this Friday night, June 08, for an evening woods walk at a naturalist's pace with forester Matthieu Leblanc and woodlot owner Roger Leblanc who has staked out some special spots to spend time at. Roger wants to let everyone know that the Saw-Whet Owl box that was occupied on the woodlot has been abandoned for an unknown reason. Those who were hoping to see owlets will unfortunately not. There were five eggs in the box and all seemed to be going well until ten days ago. The eggs will be off to the New Brunswick museum for any further research uses and hopefully the owls will return next year.

The write up for the June 08 evening outing is attached below.

Nature Moncton Field Trip

Date : June 8th, 2018

Time : Meet at 5 :45 pm (to 9 :00 pm)

Location : Meet at Tankville School and we will proceed from there up Rte 115.

Leader : Roger Leblanc and Mathieu Leblanc

OUT TO THE WOODS

It’s spring! Migratory birds are coming back, plants are flowering, insects are flying (yes even mosquitoes) and soon mushrooms will be coming out. And a lot of that is happening in or around the forest. In fact a veritable cornucopia of natural sights and sounds is available in forested areas at all times of the year, but spring is special and some of us will be passing quite a bit of time birding and conducting other activities in forested habitat during the coming season. But how much do we really know about the beautiful Acadian forest around us? And then there is forestry? Wood is one of the main resources of the province.

If any or all of these questions have been on your mind Nature Moncton will give you a chance to learn more. On Friday June 8^th we will be offering an evening outing to a working woodlot about 20 km North of Moncton in Notre Dame at civic # 3764 on route 115. The owner of the land, our own Roger Leblanc, cuts firewood for his own use on these 150 acres and he will be there to talk about that but also show us the birds that nest there and some of the things, like owl nesting boxes, he does to help out our feathered friends. An added bonus will be the presence of Mathieu Leblanc a local forester who operates a sustainable commercial harvesting company. He will talk about the trees and forest types we cross on our approximately two-kilometre walk that will go at a leisurely pace on easy trails and last about 3 hours. Mathieu will also explain the services he offers to his clients that in a nutshell are able to make some profit from his land while still making sure its biological integrity is preserved for future generations. So why not join us for this outing of discoveryAll are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

** Great to get two new reports of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS [Merlebleu de l'Est] in one day. Dale Gaskin spotted Bluebirds around his Dawson Settlement home on Monday with ample real estate for them to consider. Dale is also noting a noticeable number of CEDAR WAXWINGS [Jaseur d'Amérique] around his home as well as his usual, sizeable troupe of RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS [Colibri a gorge rubis].

** The RED SQUIRRELS [Ecureuil roux] that had raised a brood in a Tree Swallow nest box have vacated their natal nest to enter the outside world on May 29 in Doreen Rossiter's Alma yard. On May 30 the nest box was taken down, cleaned out, and placed back up and on May 30 Doreen spotted a male EASTERN BLUEBIRD [ Merlebleu de l'Est] on the roof of the nest box briefly and was not seen again until Monday,June 04, when a male appeared again along with a female. A second male suddenly appeared and all three were going in and out of the hole all day, however there were lots of lively chases among the two males. Doreen comments that the female has a very brown plumage with just a patch of rust on the breast area.

** Brian Coyle got a photo of a NORTHERN PARULA [Paruline a collier] warbler searching through spring blooms for insects. Note the blue on the back and that split eye ring on this warbler that sometimes gets the nickname "Zipper Bird" due to its vocalizations.

** Phil Reibel had a WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie] do a perfect passport photo pose for his trail camera on the Renous River recently. It is in very good condition after a challenging winter in the area.

** Brian Stone snapped a few photos around our camp birdfeeder area on Monday. After seeing an adult Red-headed Woodpecker come to dog food for several days at Bruce Rendall's feeder near Miramichi I gave it a try for my troupe and placed it in a peanut feeder. For three weeks now all patrons have turned their bill up at it. It is an all meat based dog food in small, hard, peanut sized pellets. They all felt that it simply could not stand up to sunflower chips, peanuts, peanut butter and jam however the peanuts ran out over the weekend and Brian got a photo of what is possibly the first one to expand its tastes ... a DOWNY WOODPECKER [Pic mineur]. The orange sections have not attracted any Orioles, but the GRAY CATBIRDS [Moqueur chat] seem to be very interested in checking them over but not sampling them. Some grape jelly is going to go in the orange shells as they dry that may be more interesting. Brian also got a photo of a female RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD [Carouge a epaulettes] seemingly intent on patrolling her nest site.

** We see and hear Hermit Thrush and Veery around our Miramichi camp a lot, especially in the evenings, however it was a real surprise to have a HERMIT THRUSH [Grive solitaire] in our feeder area enjoying sunflower chips that had fallen to the ground. It was the first time we had seen this. Unfortunately there are no photos as we surprised one another when the door suddenly opened.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton