NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Oct.
19, 2020 (Monday)
Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.
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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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**On Sunday morning around 10 a.m. Pat and
Jill McLaughlin clearly saw a large cat running across a field in Sussex. They were travelling from Quispamsis going
towards Moncton. In Sussex, just as they
crossed the Kennebecasis River they saw the animal in the field on the
right. Jill immediately said “It’s a
big cat” and indeed it was. Pat comments
that he has heard all the stories of COUGAR [Couguar] sightings in the Province and always
thought people were seeing COYOTE(S) [Coyote],
FOX(ES) [RENARD], Lynx(S)
[LYNX] or maybe Fishers [PÊCHEUSES]. He thought he would only believe there are
Cougars here when he saw one. Sunday he
felt he did. So, this is what they saw;
it was a large cat, with a long rope-like tail, about a hundred yards away,
running towards the corner of the field by the highway. They could not give a good estimate of weight
but surely it was over 70 pounds maybe closer to a hundred pounds. It was not a Lynx or a BOBCAT [Lynx roux], the long tail was easy to see. Sunday was a bright and clear beautiful sunny
day. They turned off the highway at the
next ramp to see if they could get another look at it but it was out of
sight. Pat comments there may not be a
breeding population of Cougar in New Brunswick but there was one in Sussex on
Sunday. Pat McLaughlin is a very
experienced woodsman, hunter and naturalist.
I feel Pat’s report is very reliable and folks in this area should be on
the watch especially with a camera for that illusive photo of a Cougar in New
Brunswick.
**For the past two mornings at 5 minutes
before sunrise Peter and Deana Gadd have had brief visits from a male RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
[Pic à ventre roux].
Brief visits because their
feeders even at this time are dominated by 6 or 7 BLUE JAY [Geai bleu]. Deana
has read that the Red-Bellied Woodpecker at a feeder will hold its own against
other birds but not Blue Jays. It was
tricky lighting of course at that hour, because there just wasn’t much of it so
the picture is a bit grainy. They had
been hoping for a visit for the past few years from this species; this is a
‘lifer’ for the both of them. It was
nice to be able to report it yesterday on Global Big Day. It was indeed great to have two reports
this past week of Red-Bellied Woodpeckers to feeder yards. John Inman had a female arrive earlier in the
week. Apparently, this species is doing
well to the south of us, so great to see them possibly expanding into New
Brunswick. In the past when they arrived
at a good feeder yard, they often tended to return to it all winter. It was enjoying unsalted shelled peanuts in
the Gadds’ feeder yard.
**Fred and Sue Richards were in the right
place at the right time to witness a natural scenario take place. The New Moon tides were very high on
Sunday. Susan and Fred went for a hike
along the dike along the Memramcook River at the base of their property in
Taylor Village. They noted gulls
seemingly in a feeding frenzy after what the Richards assumed must be small
fish let up into the marsh by the high tide.
Surprisingly they realized the target of the gulls was small rodents,
assumedly SHREW
[Musaraigne] and Voles
[CAMPAGNOL], that had been flooded
out of their burrows and trying to get to higher ground and being intercepted
by opportunistic gulls. I assume this
must happen at these very high tides but most of us would never witness it
happening, however, the fish were up in the flooded areas as well as Susan
photographed a GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] up in the flooded vegetation, quite content with the fish
prey.
**Gabriel and Tania Gallant had a visit
from an adult WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW [Bruant à couronne blanche] and an immature with it. They stayed in the driveway for a while to
forage.
During a visit with family on Thanksgiving weekend in the Jaquet River
area they drove up by a field that had a huge flock of CANADA GEESE [Bernache du
Canada], with them were two
adult Snow Geese [Oies de neige] and five immature White morphs and one
immature Blue Morph. They weren’t able
to report this at the time due to internet issues. They were on Hayes Road in Nash Creek New
Brunswick, just off the highway near the Nash Creek exit. They may still be present.
Back to their own yard in Ste-Marie-de-Kent a
group, of 5 EASTERN
BLUEBIRD [Merlebleu de l'Est] are
making frequent visits to feed on insects.
Also, Gabriel has been seeing a WILSON'S SNIPE [Bécassine des
marais] and an AMERICAN WOODCOCK [Bécasse
d'Amérique] on his Ste-Marie-de-Kent property.
Tania and
Gabriel checked out one of their reliable Oak trees in Albert County for Hen-of-the-Woods
mushroom and found one that weighs in at 4 pounds and there was a second one
just starting to grow. Unfortunately, in
the excitement a photo was forgotten. It
is an ideal time to look for the very delicious Hen-of-the-Woods mushroom in
association with Oak trees.
**Mac Wilmot sent photos of a beetle larvae in a dead Spruce tree that he was cutting to Saturday’s edition. The woodpeckers obviously heard the comments on Saturday’s Info line and NORTHERN FLICKER [Pic flamboyant] and a HAIRY WOODPECKER [Pic chevelu] arrived to check out the booty. Mac also sent a photo of the tailings of the beetle larvae as they chew in the wood. We will have to go on a quest to decide what the tailings actually are…. till later.
**Jane LeBlanc had a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] appear outside their bedroom window for a photo. Their Irish Setter Lucy
went on point! Jane also got a very
pleasant portrait of a male PURPLE FINCH [Roselin pourpré] in their St. Martins’ yard.
**Aldo Dorio photographed a Bald Eagle
surveying the activity at Hay Island on Sunday morning. There seems to be a modest amount of yellow
in the bill to suggest it may be at least two years of age.
nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
