NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, November
12, 2020 (Thursday)
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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 on
Wednesday the ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER [Tyran à gorge cendrée] was very
cooperative from 9:00 am until about 2:00 pm. Over 100 birders have visited
since Sunday, November 08, and everyone was very respectful to his land and
mostly to the other birds and Clarence thanks folks for that. There will be
no more visitors accepted in order to no longer disrupt all the other feeding
and arriving birds. Clarence also reports that on Wednesday a flock of 35 EVENING
GROSBEAKS [Gros-bec errant] showed up in his forest and 2 PINE GROSBEAKS
[Durbec des sapins]. The Dark-eyed Juncos and Common Redpolls did not show up
and only a few AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] and AMERICAN
GOLDFINCHES [Chardonneret jaune] dropped by. Hopefully the back to calmness
atmosphere in his yard will get those numbers up over the next few days.
Thank you Clarence for your patient
hospitality and for acting as traffic director.
** Leigh Eaton reports that he was
fortunate to have a prolonged visit from a male PILEATED WOODPECKER [Grand pic]
to his Moncton yard and he was able to get photos through a window. The
juvenile RING-NECKED PHEASANTS [Faisan de Colchide] are starting to mature as
indicated by photos of the young male. The Eatons normally have a cock pheasant
and a couple of females and 6 immature pheasant visitors. The juveniles looked
alike but in the last few weeks the males are showing much more vibrant
colours.
** The last day that Mac Wilmot saw the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher at his place it was buddying up with a robin flock (photo attached)
that had been around Mac’s yard for a time. Suddenly the robins left and so did the flycatcher. Roger Leblanc poses a thought that there may be a chance that the bird would head southerly with the robin flocks and possibly get it to head in the right direction and possibly survive as many of us felt that it was so far off course that its survival would be precarious. Food for thought. Mac’s last photo he got of it was with its newly found robin friends.
** Brian Stone went for a drive along
the New Scotland and Victoria roads on Wednesday. He noticed a beaver dam at
the covered bridge on Victoria Rd. that he hadn’t noticed before. It would
appear like an effort to dam a fairly swift flowing stream.
Brian also noted webbing around a plant
in his Moncton yard and saw a lot of tiny critters crawling all about the web.
He comments that they were so small that it was hard to tell if they were
spiderlings or mites but with the webbing just hatched spiders would have to be
a rule out. It seems late but I suspect they knew exactly what they were doing.
** Bev Schneider and I did a last
hurrah visiting the ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER [Tyran à gorge cendrée] on
Wednesday. A photo is attached of what it is able to do without needing a
toothpick! It is also nice to see AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien]
coming back with us for the winter. A bit of cool weather should have lots more
of them at feeders. Clarence usually gets about 20 + in winter at his site. I
am attaching a photo of the Burning Bush at Clarence Cormier’s yard loaded with
clinging fruit. I have never seen birds pay attention to this fruit as a forage
before, however the flycatcher seems to think they are fine. The fruit is a
husk over a very stone hard seed and it must have a powerful gizzard to grind
them.
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS [Pluvier argenté] were noted at the Rue Niles
shoreline in Cap Pele as well as SANDERLINGS [Bécasseau sanderling]. BLACK-BELLIED
PLOVERS [Pluvier argenté] were also on the grass at the Cap Brule lagoon as
well as a flock of approximately a dozen SNOW BUNTINGS [Bruant des neiges].
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
