NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, March 10, 2020 (Tuesday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** David Christie reports that he had
his first COMMON GRACKLES [Quiscale bronzé] come to his Mary’s Point yard on
Monday. He thought they could be birds moving up the coast to Alma, or the
flock of approximately 100 Blackbirds from John Inman’s nearby yard that had
been disturbed by a raptor which David says is more likely. John’s flock is
about 70% Common Grackles and 30% Red-winged Blackbirds. David does have 4 WHITE-THROATED
SPARROWS [Bruant à gorge blanche] in his yard, but few AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS
[Bruant hudsonien] and SONG SPARROWS [Bruant chanteur]. On a walk to the beach
David noted a sizeable group of HERRING GULLS [Goéland argenté] and RING-BILLED
GULLS [Goéland à bec cerclé] that had been minimal in number up until now.
** There are two birding events taking
place this coming Saturday, March 15th. Alain Clavette will give a
Gull identification presentation in English starting at 9:00 am with an indoor
workshop followed by an outdoor session to put the workshop information to
work. All details are on the poster attached under photos. It will be necessary
to click on the photo to enlarge it to full screen to read the details and
instructions. This is not a Nature Moncton sponsored event so register directly
with Alain Clavette.
Many from the Moncton Area and all over
New Brunswick join the Saint John Naturalists in doing sea watches at the Point
Lepreau Bird Observatory which is about to start on March 15th. Todd
Watts will be giving a presentation on sea bird identification and estimating
flock sizes at Rockwood Park Interpretive Center in Saint John this coming
Saturday, March 14th from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Details are attached
below with a bit of history about the site that many of us have enjoyed due to
the efforts of the Saint John naturalist club.
PLBO VOLUNTEER
WORKSHOP
When: Sat, March 14, 10am – 1pm
Where: Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre, Rockwood Park, Saint John
Description
Join Todd Watts as he points out all
the requirements needed to access the Observatory and, an insight to
identification and estimating bird totals.Todd will have numerous slides to aid
in the identification of migratory seabirds.
2020 marks the 25th year of the sea
duck migration project at the PLBO. Spring monitoring will take place from
March 15 to May 9. The fall migration period begins on September 17 and ends on
November 18.
Most naturalists in the Province are
aware of the activities at the PLBO, which was built in the fall of 1995 and
started housing volunteers for four-hour sea watches in the spring of 1996. The
building is situated at the very tip of Point Lepreau and provides a commanding
270-degree view of the Bay.Thousands of migrating seabirds as well as many
passerines and raptors can be seen on a good day, although visibility is very
much dependent on weather conditions.
The purpose of activities is to
identify all seabirds migrating through the Bay of Fundy near the Point in
spring and fall and to record the species, numbers and pattern of movement.
** You are probably going to hear more
about Petitcodiac River Appreciation Day than you would care to over the next
weeks, but new developments seem to be popping up every day. Webmaster Brian
Stone has done a great job of making it available on the website homepage in 3
different tabs. The 1st tab is the complete agenda of the day
detailing what the presenters will be speaking on; the 2nd tab shows the poster
that is now completed and ready for anyone who knows a good site to put them,
and the 3rd tab where one can click the tab to download the poster (PDF file)
to place on Facebook sites or where possible.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
