NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September 27, 2020 (Sunday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** Louise Nichols’ trail camera
continues to have a visiting variety of wildlife. She recently had a COYOTE [Coyote] come by, but it only appeared for a
second as it seemed to be spooked by the camera and turned to run in the
opposite direction. However, a RUFFED
GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] recently
strolled by to leave a nice video. Check
it out at the link below.
** Jane LeBlanc got a few photos of a BELTED KINGFISHER
[Martin-pêcheur d'Amérique],
seemingly with a bit of an attitude. The
photos nicely show the white spot ahead of the eye that often shows up looking
like an eye in some photos. The female
Belted Kingfisher has the red belly band which the male lacks. Jane also came across a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte
huppée] road kill,
and took the opportunity to photograph the intricate plumage of the species.
** Dave Christie comments he has not been seeing many
shorebirds in the past week at Mary’s Point Beach, mostly because of not being
out at the right time of day. On Saturday, however, he went down to the shore
between 10 and 10:30 AM, when the high tide was receding, and encountered
nearly 350 shorebirds. With no raptors in sight, they were not being disturbed.
He
estimated 150 Sanderlings, 100 Semipalmated Plovers, 50 Black-bellied Plovers,
and 25 Semipalmated Sandpipers. (On Monday the 21st, he had picked out a single
Least Sandpiper among the Semipalmated Sandpipers but they were closer that
day.)
** On Friday, Annette and Brian Stone
went for a scenic drive and stopped at Cornhill Nurseries for a wander and got
a couple of birds there: a CHIPPING SPARROW [Bruant
familier] and a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER
[Pic maculé]. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a suspected
juvenile, but is assumed to be advancing fast in the molt as photos submitted
recently seem much less advanced in molt than Brian’s photos and birds that
I’ve seen myself. The Chipping Sparrow
is suspected to be a juvenile bird. The
winter plumaged Chipping Sparrow does have the upper and lower mandible a
different colour and the black bar in front of the eye would be clearer, so I
suspect that will soon be taking place with this bird. They also went through Elgin and stopped to
soak in the beauty of the fall blueberry fields there.
** On Sunday, in Brian’s backyard, a RED-EYED VIREO [Viréo aux
yeux rouges] stopped on
a tree branch near enough to check him out.
Also, a hoard of Lady Beetles were flying about the yard and didn’t
hesitate to land on Brian whenever near.
These are the ASIAN MULTICOLOURED LADY BEETLES [Coccinelle asiatique]
that are often seen out seeking wintering sites this time of year, often in
houses and in corners and secluded areas.
I’m adding several photos to show why they get the name “multicoloured.” They’re often reddish with multiple dark
spots, but some are more yellow and others don’t have any spots at all. They are not native. Our native ones would spend the winter in the
wild. Brian also includes a picture of
his naked-of-berries Mountain Ash tree, looking so different from last year at
this time when it was loaded with berries waiting for fruit connoisseur birds.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
