NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, November
11, 2020 (Wednesday)
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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)
** Clarence Cormier reports that the ASH-THROATED
FLYCATCHER [Tyran à gorge cendrée] was elusive on Tuesday. It appeared at 12:30
pm for just a few minutes and then at 2:30 pm for about 15 minutes. It mainly
stayed in the wooded areas and avoided the Burning Bush berries potentially
because of the warmer weather and more insect activity. However at 4:30 pm
Clarence saw it back in the Burning Bush, seemingly eating berries.
Approximately 20 people visited and most saw it while others were luckier and
photographed it. Clarence will be home from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on Wednesday
for those who would wish to visit or revisit and wearing a mask is requested.
Louise Nichols shares some photos she got of the bird on Monday but Louise had
to wait to get an audience.
Yvette Richard got a photo of the bird
in the Burning Bush and that photo nicely shows the berries that is using to
spice up its insect diet. Yvette also photographed 2 PINE GROSBEAKS that really
show the varying plumages at the differing stages of molt.
** It’s a great time of year to be perusing
Canada Geese flocks for surprise tagalongs, such as a BARNACLE GOOSE [Bernache
nonnette] that birders on P.E.I. are enjoying.
** Linda and Ron Steeves report that
for the last few days there have been high numbers of CANADA GEESE [Bernaches
du Canada] spending their days foraging on the leftovers from the corn debris that
were left after the harvest in a small field that was the corn maze at the
Green Pig market near the Salisbury Big Stop. Linda and Ron have enjoyed
getting a coffee and scanning the flocks for something a bit different over the
last few days. It was difficult to estimate how many birds were in the field
but Ron thought that there were approximately 200 ducks, mostly MALLARD DUCKS
[Canard colvert] with a few AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS [Canard noir], 500 AMERICAN
CROWS [Corneille d'Amérique] and 1,000+ CANADA
GEESE [Bernaches du Canada].
Ron thought the geese had been
overnighting in the field but on Monday evening, just before dark, they began
to take flight commenting that it was amazing to witness. They would start
vocalizing and then a group of about 50 to 120 would fly off to the south/east
and then a few minutes later the same thing would take place again. This
continued until it was really quite dark. A more realistic count of the geese
seemed to be about 1,400. By dark there was only 1 pair left in the field and
it appeared that one of those had difficulty flying as they left with the last
flock but soon returned.
The real spectacle was the large flocks
flying off to the south/east just at dusk and being able to watch them fly over
the river valley for miles until it got too dark to see. They could see them in
flight for miles and occasionally a couple of large groups that lifted off
would circle and join one another making a flock of 300 to 500. The astonishing
thing to Ron was that the birds organized themselves to fly in long lines
spreading out wing to wing not trailing each other or attempting to form the
legendary “V” formation. It certainly was a sight to see … all those birds
flying into the night. Ron comments that it was an image he will never forget.
** Debbie Batog sends a photo of a
PREDACIOUS DIVING BEETLE. We have several different species of Predacious
Diving Beetles in New Brunswick but this is the one most commonly seen. They
are quite large and can fly well when they chose to find another body of water
in which to hunt prey even up to tadpole size. They take a bubble of air under
their wings to allow them to stay underwater longer.
** Anna Tucker reports that there is a
notable number of RING-NECKED PHEASANTS [Faisan de Colchide] at the Riverview
Marsh in the area at the bottom of Point Park Dr. with several being in sight
at one time.
** The sunflower seed order arrived and
all orders were filled. Mike Dickinson reports that he had a good crop this
year; however some have been mentioning that sunflower seed has not been in
stock in some of the usual outlets. Eric Wilson comments that he asked the
manager at Clarence Farm Services about it and she reported that the current
shortage was because some large quantities were spoiled in storage over the
summer due to condensation. She expected supplies to be shipped around December
01 after the current harvest.
** I dropped by the Arthur St. lagoon
in Memramcook on Tuesday. There were many NORTHERN SHOVELERS [Canard souchet]
scattered about the lagoon in various stages of molt. Suddenly the majority of
them gathered together in a tight group. This species is known for this
activity to stir up food. It was a bit surprising how fast they decided to band
together. This is seen more often out of breeding season as they are less
tolerant of other shovelers encroaching on their territory in breeding season.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
