Editor & Proofreader

Editor: Nelson Poirier    Proofreader: Louise Nichols

Monday, 28 September 2020

Sept 28 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Sept. 28, 2020 (Monday)

 

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca

 

Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check into the website at
www.naturemoncton.com

Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Susan Richards susan_richards@rogers.com

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

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com.

**Marguerite Winsor got a nice photo of SWAMP SPARROW [Bruant des marais] moving about the cattails at Salisbury Highland Park.  This can be a very hard sparrow to photograph due to its secretive skulking nature in wet areas. So nice to see its clear features.  It is easier to get photos during the spring breeding season when they are claiming territories but that soon changes.  The Salisbury Highland Park is becoming an excellent go-to birding spot.

 

**Gordon Rattray had a HERMIT THRUSH [Grive solitaire] visit his Weldon yard to give a few nice photos and one of them a flight photo.

  Gordon noticed some excavating on the side of his yard beside a wet out of bounds area but not wet this year.  On several visits there were always wasps in a stream coming in and out.  The hole is now 15 cm deep and about 15 cm wide.  It looks like the wasps are mining mud for nest building.  A few frosty nights could change things a lot as during the winter with the Vespidae wasps, large portions of the colony will die off and the mated Queen is usually the only one surviving wasp.  She/they (possibly a few other female) will hibernate in areas protected from freezing temperatures.

 

**Susan Richards has a metal lawn ornament of a heron aside her Taylor Village yard pond.  A GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] flew in to stand beside it for a while then flew off on Sunday.  This has happened before; assumedly it’s acting as a decoy for the real thing.

 

**Lois Budd went sleuthing for AMERICAN PIPIT [Pipit d'Amérique] off Lower Marsh Road in Sackville on Sunday after Mitch Doucet reported them there.  She was very pleased to see some there as this species was a ‘lifer’ she had chased for years.  Lois shares a nice photo.

 

**Verica LeBlanc visited the Point Sapin area on September 23rd to observe some effects of tropical storm Teddy which was actually very gentle with us but Verica’s photo shows the dramatic surf in and the huge amount of seaweed washed up on shore that gave a soft resting spot for gulls and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT [Cormoran à aigrettes].  Looking at Verica’s photo note the blend of juvenile and adult cormorants, and several age classes can be identified among the HERRING and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS [Goéland marin].

 

**Aldo Dorio got more photos of those tricky to be sure of, juvenile BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER [Pluvier argenté] from a side view.  The one from the frontal view is being labelled BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER [Pluvier argenté] as it is suspected to be and, as well, out of default. The other photo is more convincingly Black-backed Plover.

Aldo also photographed a NEW YORK ASTER blooming. The beautiful abundant and striking asters and goldenrod are at their best at the moment to give that autumn flash of colour at ground level as the maples and ash light the forest with their brilliant fall performance. 

 

**It’s always timely to mention SHREW [Musaraigne] and MOLE [Taupe] as many folks do not see them very often, and unfamiliar with the difference. They are common in NB but work the night shift.  Phil Riebel got an excellent photo of a shrew their cat caught.  I am just labelling it ‘shrew’ as we do have several species of shrew in New Brunswick.  Some species have to be differentiated by dentition.  Some do have a short tail, others a longer tail, however the features that identify a shrew over a mole is that long extended snout, small front paws and lack of fleshy tentacles in the facial area.  We only have one mole species in New Brunswick, the Star-nosed Mole [Tilleul à tête d'étoile] which tends to run plumper and larger than most shrews, has fleshy tentacles in a circular pattern on the more blunt face and has huge front claws used for excavating underground tunnels which it is doing right now, and leaving the tailings as piles of earth called ‘molehills’.

 

**Brian Stone photographed the fall version of Steeplebush around the Elgin blueberry fields recently that Gart Bishop helped us to identify in its fall “plumage”.        

 

 **I just placed more bird feeders up and filled them with coarse sunflower chips.  Some of the chips fall to the ground and it has been surprising the number of WHITE-THROATED SPARROW [Bruant à gorge blanche] that have suddenly arrived to enjoy the droppings.  There were approximately 15 on Sunday and am attaching a few photos, most of them appear to be immature with some juvenile breast streaking remaining.  I was surprised to see so many of this species in an urban setting. 

 nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton

 

AMERICAN PIPIT. SEPT 27, 2020. LOIS BUDD

SWAMP SPARROW. SEPT. 26, 2020. MARGUERITE WINSOR

HERMIT THRUSH. SEPT 27, 2020.  GORDON RATTRAY

HERMIT THRUSH. SEPT 27, 2020.  GORDON RATTRAY

HERMIT THRUSH. SEPT 27, 2020.  GORDON RATTRAY

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (JUVENILE). SEPT 27, 2020. NELSON POIRIER 

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (JUVENILE). SEPT 27, 2020. NELSON POIRIER 

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (JUVENILE). SEPT 27, 2020. NELSON POIRIER 

GREAT BLUE HERON AND FRIEND. SEPT 27, 2020. SUSAN RICHARDS

GULLS AND CORMORANTS SHELTERING FROM THE STORM. SEPT 23, 2020. VERICA LeBLANC

TURBULENT WATERS AT POINTE SAPIN. SEPT 23, 2020. VERICA LeBLANC

STEEPLEBUSH (Spiraea tomentosa). SEPT. 25, 2020. BRIAN STONE

NEW YORK ASTER (Symphyotricum novi-belgii) SEPT 27, 2020. ALDO DORIO

WASPS NEAR NEST EXCAVATION. SEPT 27, 2020. GORDON RATTRAY

WASP EXCAVATION. SEPT 27, 2020. GORDON RATTRAY

SHREW. DEC 2, 2019. PHIL RIEBEL

 
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (JUVENILE). SEPT 27, 2020. ALDO DORIO

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (JUVENILE). SEPT 27, 2020. ALDO DORIO