Nature Moncton Nature News: Nov 28 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, November 28, 2019 (Thursday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** We’ve been wondering where all the birds are … maybe they are coming to us via St. Martins. Jane Leblanc had 20 plus PURPLE FINCHES [Roselin pourpré], 20 AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES [Chardonneret jaune], 12 AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle d'Amérique] along with BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu], BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES [Mésange à tête noire] and a WOODPECKER [Pivert] arrive to her St. Martins yard on Wednesday. They were not coming to feeders but were enjoying the wild crop in Jane's yard, including Witch Hazel, Rose Hips, Purple Coneflower seeds, and were also drinking at her pond. There is obviously lots of wild food out there. Jane’s photo shows a Goldfinch sampling Witch Hazel seeds, which may be a bit of a tough crack. Jane’s other photo shows 2 Purple Finches in female plumage, but we have to bear in mind that the male Purple Finch does not take on its colour until the second fall of life.

Louise Nichols came across a pair of CADDISFLIES still on their mating flight on Wednesday, Nov 27 which one would assume to be late in the season. We have many species of caddisflies in NB. Their delta wing stance when perched is an identity clue to genus. Most of their life is spent underwater with a few weeks out as adults on mating flights and back to water to lay eggs and continue the life cycle. The adults tend to fly at dusk and nocturnally looking like moths. Their presence is often a sign of good water quality.

** Brian Stone visited Mapleton Park on Wednesday. He had noted a dying tree with a cavity near the ground and a lot of fresh wood chips on the ground on November 20^th. On today’s visit he found that the tree had split and fallen. Whodunit is up for grabs and suggestions are very welcome, but the fallen section did not yield any more clues. It may have been the RED SQUIRREL [Ecureuil roux] that Brian photographed checking out another cavity. Brian also photographed a 22° Solar Halo and a Sun Dog in the same frame as well as each separately.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton