NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, March 2, 2020 (Monday)
To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information
line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Please advise the editor if any errors are noted in wording
or photo labelling. Note that corrections, deletions, or delayed additions may
not always appear on the Info Line and email transcript but will always appear
on the BlogSpot. For this reason, it is recommended that those wishing to look
at historical records use the BlogSpot rather than the email
transcript. The BlogSpot can always be accessed from the website.
Info Line #: 506-384-6397
(384-NEWS)
** March 1 brought a welcome surprise visitor to Doreen
Rossiter’s Alma feeder yard, when a bright adult male RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD [Carouge
à épaulettes] arrived. Doreen has not seen a Red-winged Blackbird since
November 11, 2019 and strongly suspects that this is a new arrival. Doreen is
usually among the first to get early spring migrants. March is often the time
we can expect the first of the blackbird clan to return. However, March 1st is
a very early date for first scouts to arrive. If this is indeed an early
migrant it should be followed very soon by some of its kin. The adult males are
normally the first to arrive. Only the bird knows for sure, but the thought of
it being a new arrival must be considered as such. If this is indeed an early
migrant it should be followed very soon by more of its kin.
[Insertion by transcriber]: And, indeed, John Inman reports that
Sunday brought a flock of 12 male Red-winged Blackbirds to his yard at 225
Mary’s Point Road in Harvey, and he had seen a couple there a day or two
earlier.
Doreen also awoke early Sunday morning to a flock of 40 AMERICAN
ROBINS [Merle d’Amérique] gleaning the remaining mountain-ash berries,
flowering crab and Highbush Cranberry fruit. Doreen comments that she thinks all
the winter-hanging fruit around her yard area is now consumed.
** Many residents of some areas of New Brunswick have become
very aware of how urbanized WHITE-TAILED DEER [Chevreuil de Virginie] can
become. St. Andrews and Quispamsis seem to have become headquarters. Jack
Perry’s trail camera shows one sauntering across a parking lot, taken from his
apartment deck, which is lit by a light at night. This was taken just after
midnight on February 29, as the new day started on Sand Cove Road in the City
of Saint John. White-tailed Deer are down in numbers in some areas of NB,
especially in wooded areas in the north and higher altitudes in the south. Life
must be a lot easier taking on “urban goat” behavior to get out of line of
predators like Coyotes and heavy snow in some winters, and I’m sure those
delicious cedar hedges are inviting as well.
** Bob Blake maintains a record of early morning temperatures
and daily high temperatures from his Second North River home and sends a table
to compare those statistics between February of 2019 and February of 2020. The
precipitation comparison is certainly dramatic with 57 cm of snow in Feb. 2019
compared to 34 cm precipitation in Feb. 2020 and almost half of that was rain.
Enjoy it all while it lasts but March has arrived, so maybe it will.
Weather stats comparing February 2019 and
February 2020
2019
|
2020
|
||
morning
temperatures
|
daily highs
-precipitation
|
morning
temperatures
|
daily highs
-precipitation
|
-17-1 day
-16-1
-15-5
-14-4
-13-3
-12-2
-11-1
-9-1
-8-3
--6-2
-5-1
-4-1
-2-1
+2-1
+6-1
|
Hi’s
-11-2
-10-5
-9-2
-8-1
-7-2
-6-1
-5-3
-4-1
-2-2
0-3
+2-2
+3-1
+6-1
57 cms. snow
|
-22-1
-20-1
-19-1
-18-3
-14-1
-12-1
-9-1
-8-2
-7-2
-6-1
-5-1
-4-5
-3-2
-2-1
-1-3
0-2
|
Hi’s
-12-1
-11-1
-9-1
-8-1
-6-2
-5-1
-4-1
-2-1
-1-1
+1-8
+2-4
+3-1
+5-1
+6-1
+7-2
24 cms. snow
10 mms. rain
|
** Pat Gibbs photographed the trail of her resident RING-NECKED
PHEASANT [Faisan de Colcide] that imprinted so nicely in the dusting of snow on
Saturday night. The calm stepping looks like it settled things with its male
intruder of a few days earlier.
Nature Moncton
WHITE-TAILED DEER. FEB 29, 2020. JACK PERRY
RING-NECKED PHEASANT TRAIL. MARCH 1, 2020. PAT GIBBS
