Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 21 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, 21 January 2019 (Monday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to

To respond by email, please address your message to the information line editor, .

Please advise the editor if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling. Note that corrections, deletions, or delayed additions may not always appear on the info line and email transcript but will always appear on the BlogSpot. For this reason, it is recommended that those wishing to look at historical records consult the BlogSpot rather than the email transcript. The BlogSpot can always be accessed from the website.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at

Edited by: Nelson Poirier

Transcript by: David Christie

Info Line #: 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

Official spring is a mere 2 months away!

** To get an audience with the (?) GOLDEN EAGLE [Aigle royal] on the Tantramar Marsh continues to be a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Brian and Valerie Bauld found themselves just in that position on Sunday morning just as Mother Nature started to bring on the day's weather event. Brian was able to capture some photos in the dull conditions to show clearly the golden nape and feather-booted legs.

** Mac Wilmot's daughter is in the midst of renovations to her home and a WEASEL [belette] peeked in to check on things and came face to face with the family cat. I rather suspect that it may not be wise for the cat to tangle with a weasel that is so fierce for its size.

** Clarence Cormier comments on an interesting experience during Sunday's storm. With bird seeds buried under snow, the visiting birds were busy digging with little success. As he shoveled snow off the patio two AM. TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] landed only a few feet from him. Normally, they fly away the moment he opens the door, but not this time. He concluded they were hungry so he gently walked past them and they did not move. He re-entered his home to get seed and placed it on the shoveled portion of the patio. Two more Tree Sparrows joined them and enjoyed the seed, as he continued shoveling only a few feet away from them. Clarence comments that one could expect this kind of behaviour from chickadees but not from Tree Sparrows, and he was rather surprised by it all.

Other bird-feeder activity is regular in Clarence's yard, with the exception of occasional visits from SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun], NORTHERN SHRIKE [Pie-grieche grise] and other larger UFO's, "unidentified flying oiseaux" as he calls them, suspected to be NORTHERN GOSHAWK [Autour des palombes].

** Jane LeBlanc had a pair of RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] come to a White Birch tree beside her St. Martins home on Sunday at the height of the storm. The wind gusts were blowing them off regularly, but they were persistent. Jane's photo seems to show one of them taking a catkin, not only the buds.

** My male RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER [Pic à ventre roux] found its favourite suet block to be a convenient dining area for a storm day. An attached photo shows the "honker” of a bill that this species has, and when it flies this woodpecker has a white rump flash, similar to the Northern Flicker.

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton