Nature Moncton Nature News: March 15 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, March 15, 2020 (Sunday)

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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)

** President Gordon Rattray has consulted with the Nature Moncton Board and the general consensus is to cancel the Nature Moncton meeting on Coyotes, this Tuesday night, March 17, following advice of the New Brunswick Public Health Officer to assist in slowing down the spread of the COVID-19 corona virus. Hopefully, Jason Cormier can come to give his informative presentation when the present situation improves.

** Judy Whalen is a bee-keeper in Gondola Point, N.B. and explains the scenario behind the stick nest, with the honeycomb structure attached, taken in a subdivision in Moncton on March 12. Judy comments that what she sees is the work of honey-bees that swarmed in the summer. They hung up in this tree (a poor choice) but stayed to build the honeycomb, and the queen and workers did raise a brood, as seen by the inner dark-coloured wax, and made it bigger, as seen by the white wax. The bees would have perished when the weather turned cold.

Thank you, Judy, for that explanation. The photos are re-attached today.

** Jane LeBlanc sends photos of those welcome sights of the season, PUSSY WILLOWS [Petit chaton], shedding their bud scale covering to expose the white fibers below. These white fibers will soon disappear to become either a yellow male pollen catkin or a green female seed catkin. The male pollen catkin will be very welcomed by early-emerging bee species.

Jane also sends a photo of a pair of BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche] in the St. Martins area. This is very apt to be a breeding pair. Note the significantly larger size of the female on the right, and the smaller male on the left. They are near a nest but Jane has not seen them on the nest as yet, which I assume will be happening very soon.

Jane also got some photos of HORNED LARK [Alouette hausse-col] in the grassy area near the St. Martins shoreline, at the large campground there. I’ve noted that some field guides point out that Horned Lark and Lapland Longspur [Plectrophane lapon] tend to move along in a stooped forward fashion. We may be seeing that in Jane’s photo.

** Brian Stone revisited the TUFTED DUCK [Fuligule morillon] at Sullivan’s Cove in Dartmouth on Saturday to find a bright breeding plumaged RING-NECKED DUCK [Fuligule à collier] in company with the Tufted Duck. The resemblance in plumage and size is striking. At MacCormacks Beach there was a group of approximately 200 COMMON EIDER [Eider à duvet] of mixed gender and approximately 40 BLACK SCOTER [Macreuse à bec jaune], predominantly adult males.

Brian also got great photos of 3 GREATER SCAUP that have been wrestling with interpretation of plumages. As chance would have it, I attended a session with Todd Watts yesterday in Saint John on sea birds which was excellent. I have asked Todd for his opinion on this scaup trio which am going to quote the possibilities he offered…..

“Scaup take two years to mature. The photos appear to show one male in breeding plumage, one male that has not fully acquired breeding plumage and a first year female. The male in molt seems to be transitioning from non-breeding to breeding plumage. I don’t think it is a first year bird, but I could be wrong. Scaup tend to be uncommon in the Quoddy Region of the bay, so I haven’t spent as much time as I would like studying them. If someone with more experience identifies this bird as a first year, please let me know. It could be a good learning experience for me.”

As Todd points out, other thoughts would be appreciated.

Nelson Poirier <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Nature Moncton