Nature Moncton Nature News: May 24 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, May 24, 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)

** Debrorah Morin’s photo of the oriole from White Head Island, from yesterday, provided lots of discussion and consideration, which illustrate well how the varying plumage of the orioles by gender and age can lead to potential confusion. Other species such as Hooded Warbler were considered but the size of the bird, being definitely smaller than the nearby Baltimore Oriole gave the strong suggestion that was indeed an immature ORCHARD ORIOLE [Oriole des vergers]. Those photos are re-attached today, for those of us less-experienced to peruse again, but keep in mind that the photos alone do not show the size comparison that is a very helpful clue.

** Sybil Wentzell shares a very pleasant array of recent bird photos, some with a different slant. The photos show a first-summer, male INDIGO BUNTING [Passerin indigo] that visited her Harvey, Albert County, yard, with some plumage completion to occur, along with a first-summer male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK [Cardinal à poitrine rose] with the same scenario to happen. Sybil shows an adult male BOBOLINK [Goglu des prés] and also a male Bobolink in its early spring plumage, which we don’t get to see much of at this time of the season.

Sybil’s photo of the GRAY CATBIRD [Moqueur chat] does show a nice hint of its burgundy under-tail covert. A BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER [Moqueur chat] also co-operated for a nice portrait.

** A BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER [Paruline à gorge noire] dropped by Jane LeBlanc’s St. Martins yard on Saturday morning and co-operated for a nice photo.

** Brian Coyle sends some recent photos. The WILSON’S SNIPE [Bécassine de Wilson] continue to entertain him. He discovered something new, at least to Brian. One snipe would be calling from the ground, right in front of him, while another would be in the air, “winnowing,” then the one on the ground would fly up to meet the other, and they would winnow together. He had always assumed that it was the male putting on a display for the female, but he had no way of telling the genders apart and assumed that it was a coupled effort. Knowing whether the ones in the air were male and female, two females or two males he never knew whether it was. Brian is getting some excellent photos because he is using a blind.

Brian also includes photos of the not easily seen SWAMP SPARROW [Bruant des marais] except at this time of year when they claim territory. He also got the beautiful sheen of the COMMON GRACKLE [Quiscale bronzé], the bright epaulettes of the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD [Carouge à épaulettes], and he as well has the female RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS [Colibri à gorge rubis] arriving to join the males in feeder combat.

** Gordon Rattray took note of some spring plants coming to life, including blooms of FORGET-ME-NOT [Myosotis] and SERVICEBERRY [Amélanchier] shrubs. He also noted INTERRUPTED FERN [Osmonde de Clayton] emerging, OSTRICH FERN [Matteuccie fougère-à-l’autruche], (the common edible one called Fiddleheads at this time of year, yet most emerging ferns do form a fiddlehead) LADY FERN [Fougère femelle] , and the COMMON FIELD HORSETAIL [Queue de renard] sterile shoot

** Our yard GRAY CATBIRDS [Moqueur chat] were not long in finding the jam feeder to savour the sweet booty. It happens to be a raspberry jam, but grape jelly or inexpensive other jams fill the bill equally well.

We have lots of photos of the male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK [Cardinal à poitrine rose], as they are so easy to spot, but not many of the females as they are less in the open at the moment, with nesting taking place. I’m attaching a photo of a female at the feeder, that shows the white supercilium over the eyes, the large bill, and the pattern of breast streaking. A few photos of it are joined by a PINE SISKIN [Tarin des pins] that show the relative size; it is frequently confused with the smaller female Purple Finch [Roselin pourpré].

This is the first year that I can recall of having 3 male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the feeders. Usually two is the maximum for me. There appears to be only one female, but maybe more, because the females spend less time at the feeder.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton