Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 24 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January 24, 2019 (Thursday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca .

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** Jamie Burris got some excellent photos of a COOPER'S HAWK [Épervier de Cooper] around his Riverview yard that shows beautifully the features that solidify its identity. The timing is great as a follow up to Wendy Sullivan’s Sharp-shinned Hawk photo from yesterday which will run again today next to Jamie’s Cooper’s Hawk for comparison. Note the “capped” crown as a result of the dark crown with the lighter coloured nape whereas the Sharp-shinned would appear

“hooded” due to solid dark crown and nape, the rear head feathers are slightly crested, the legs appear thick compared to the pencil thin Sharp-shinned Hawk legs, the eye is placed nearer to the bill and not in the center of the head as is the case with the Sharp-shinned Hawk, and the apex of the tail is a strong white band that is present but not as sharp in the Sharp-shinned Hawk. One photo shows clearly that the outer tail feathers (rectrices) are shorter than the central ones to give the rounded tail apex whereas the Sharp-shinned tail wound tend to be squared at the apex.

Jamie also noted a few of his feeder yard birds that he suspects escaped. He has noted a few MOURNING DOVES [Tourterelle triste] with feathers quite out of place. Jamie also photographed a RAVEN [Grand corbeau] flying over the park behind his home with a Mourning Dove in its bill. There very likely is a connection to the Cooper’s Hawk or other raptor as it would be rather unlikely for a Raven to take an in-shape Mourning Dove.

** Georges Brun got a distant, one kilometer away, photo of a bird on the Riverview Marsh that seems to have the profile of a SNOWY OWL [Harfang des neiges]. An arrow is directed to the bird as it is hard to pick out. A BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche] was perched on a popular tree branch raptor perch site much closer to the Moncton side of the marsh.

** Clarence Cormier’s COMMON REDPOLL [Sizerin flammé] flock jumped up to twenty plus on Wednesday. He saw them trying to get at the ice coated birch catkins before going to the seeds laid out in his yard. This may have a lot to do with the rush to feeder yards we have been seeing.

** Daryl Doucet also had his COMMON REDPOLL [Sizerin flammé] flock swell to approximately twenty on Wednesday in hot competition for black oil sunflower seeds and white millet, but he also saw a few at suet as well. He had one bird pose for an excellent photo op to nicely show the red beret, black facial mask, bi-coloured bill, as well as a quite bright red for January breast area to suggest a male.

** Rick Elliot and Barb Curlew are very seasoned birders that live beside the Fundy coast to get some interesting bird watching opportunities between yard and nearby shore. Rick shares a method he has found to enjoy recording his sightings. I’m going to paraphrase his note as I suspect many who access this BlogSpot may find it interesting. That paraphrased section follows.

Rick Elliot and Barb Curlew live on Marsh Lane in Waterside.

Living on the coast gives them a special advantage. Not only do they get feeder birds to their yard, they also get sea birds, particularly with the current high tides.

Here is their Wednesday. Jan 23 list:

Name:	Count:
American Black Duck	6
Mallard	2
Common Goldeneye	2
Common Merganser	6
Bald Eagle	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Herring Gull	10
Iceland Gull	1
Great Black-backed Gull	1
Mourning Dove	2
Common Raven	4
Black-capped Chickadee	30
Red-breasted Nuthatch	2
American Tree Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow	1
White-throated Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	1
Common Redpoll	12

On another matter, about a year ago they searched for a program to record their sightings. Many years ago they used a program called Datahawk. It had a lot of good features but they found it cumbersome to use and then it was no longer supported. Their lists ended up being a series of journals, random notes in daytimers, checklists and various worksheets. Last year Rick started a search for another program and came across Bird Journal (www.birdjournal.com) that has a version for all types of devices. He uses the PC version when home and the tablet version when travelling. It has a lot of the features they liked in Datahawk but is much easier to use. It took some time to enter their history and now have added 14 months of daily sightings, at home, local hotspots and from our various trips. He was also able to modify it to see separate lists for either Barb or himself. He now has access to sightings by location such as hotspot, province or country as well as specie, life list or any time frame. He would recommend this app for anyone looking for a good program.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton