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)
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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
