Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 16 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December 16, 2019 (Monday)

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Edited by Nelson Poirier, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Transcript by David Christie, <maryspt@mac.com>

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

** The PEREGRINE FALCONS [Faucon pelerin] were too shy to show up on count day, but were both on the big “A” logo of Assumption Place on Sunday for Georges Brun to catch a distant photo. Georges also noted a congregation of gulls feeding on the Petitcodiac shoreline about 100 metres down from Hall’s Creek. He has noted that rain events seem to bring down tidbits scoured from the upper Hall’s Creek watershed, and the gulls are ready. He got a photo of a first-winter ICELAND GULL [Goéland arctique] clutching a washed-down apple. I suspect this may be the first apple it has ever experienced! Georges also spotted a tree floating near the Moncton Wharf, doing a seal imitation.

** Pierre Janin got some nice bird photos, while participating in the Moncton Christmas Bird Count, in the Centennial Park area that included a very interesting, head-on flight photo of a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET [Roitelet à coronne dorée], a BROWN CREEPER [Grimpereau brun], a BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche], a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH [Sittelle à poitrine blanche] and a politely-posing BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE [Mésange à tête noire]. He saw a HERMIT THRUSH [Grive solitaire] but was unable to get a photo. Centennial Park was obviously a good place to be for Saturday’s stormy Christmas Bird Count.

** Jane LeBlanc got some nice photos of a female NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin] in flight over Quaco Marsh, near St. Martins, on Sunday. The photo nicely shows the slightly owl-like facial area of this species.

** We don’t expect to see grasshoppers in December, but Brian Stone found an exception. He put up a small Christmas tree, leaving a root-ball attached to keep it from drying out. To his surprise, a very small, 1-cm grasshopper appeared coming out of it, but BugGuide and Mathieu Carroll identified it as a PYGMY GRASSHOPPER (une sauterelle de la famille Tetrigidae). I suspect this is a new one for most of us. This species of grasshopper overwinters as an adult.

Nelson Poirier <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Nature Moncton