Nature Moncton Nature News: May 28 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, May 28, 2020 (Thursday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** Louise Nichols reports that the birds were very active on her Aulac property on Wednesday. She discovered that the TREE SWALLOWS [Hirondelle bicolore] had won the battle for the nest box after all as a male was sitting on top of the box and the female was inside. Every now and then she would fly out and down to the ground to collect nesting materials (dried pine needles) and then fly back into the box. Louise was sure that the BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES [Mésange à tête noire] started to nest there but doesn’t know what happened with that. She also saw that the Eastern Phoebe nest box on the cabin had nesting material in it but it was just sloppily put there and not really in the form of a nest. She suspects that maybe a Robin did it. She hasn’t seen any Eastern Phoebes on the property for a few weeks now unfortunately so she doesn’t think that the boxes will be used by them.

Lots of birds around the yard and the woods and she had 14 species of warblers on Wednesday, including a male and female BLACKPOLL WARBLER [Paruline rayée]. The male was too elusive for a photo but she did get a photo of the female. One bird Louise photographed we considered might be a female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER [Paruline bleue] with that strong white supercillium and slit below the eye but in consult with Gilles Belliveau he offered the quoted comments below to substantiate that. Some very very helpful words.

Quoting Gilles

“The tiny black bill and overall pattern of the face immediately struck me as a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

The angle is just such that you can’t quite see any of the crown stripes but if you look closely, you can see a bit of the black edge above the white supercillium.

Also, if you look at what you can see a bit of the yellow edges on the primaries and secondaries which you would not get on a female Black-throated Blue Warbler”

** More BLACK SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIES [Papillon du céleri] are appearing. Chris Antle reports that they were in her Maquapit Lake garden today and possibly they were there sooner as she had just arrived there today and there they were. The GRAY CATBIRDS [Moqueur chat] have stayed to nest in her White Pine hedge. Chris suspects she had a 100% germination rate of her Milkweed seeds this year, which is a first, and there are way too many for her to handle. If anyone wants some of the little plants just let Chris know at email address chrissie.antle@gmail.com

I hope this means that I can make a birth announcement soon of my overwintered chrysalids.

** Jane Leblanc got a nice photo of an adult male AMERICAN REDSTART [Paruline flamboyante] warbler that is the first of the year in her St. Martins yard.

** Gordon Rattray did a short outing on Wednesday to Golf Club Rd. and Gray’s Island in the Hillsborough area. At Gray’s Island he saw a BOBOLINK [Goglu des prés] in its usual place along the road and an EASTERN KINGBIRD [Tyran tritri] that sat for a photo. On the road by Gray Brook Pond Gordon saw, and got some great photos of, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT [Paruline masquée], CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER [Paruline à flancs marron] and a MAGNOLIA WARBLER [Paruline à tête cendrée] that happened to have lunch in its beak.

Gordon got a photo of a SWAINSON'S THRUSH [Grive à dos olive] a few days ago that we temporarily mislabelled as a Hermit Thrush until it was caught quickly by Caroline Arsenault’s sharp eye. She pointed out the lack of a red tail, and the all plain back to obviously make it a Swainson’s Thrush which we rarely get a photo of to share. That photo is correctly reattached today.

** Doreen Rossiter noticed a scenario on Wednesday she had not seen before. In April 3 TREE SWALLOWS [Hirondelle bicolore] arrived to a nest box in her yard; she normally only sees a pair at a time at the box. On Wednesday a female was on top of the box and a male came along and mated with her. Shortly after a second male arrived, drove the first male away, and proceeded to mate with what he obviously termed his own mate. Doreen wonders if this is a common scenario in the swallow community, possibly swallows are more promiscuous than we had thought.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton