NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December
24, 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)
** Georges Brun got a nice photo of an
adult ICELAND GULL [Goéland arctique] that deserves a bit more attention. Most
Iceland Gulls that we see tend to be white to pale all over but some of the
Larus kumlieni race have a darker, grey mantle and variable grey bands in the
primary wing feather tips. They could be confused with a Herring Gull at first,
but the bands on the primaries are gray, not black, and the Iceland Gulls have
pinkish to pale reddish legs as adults vs the flesh coloured adult legs of the
Herring Gulls. Georges’ photo is a nice learning photo to look at carefully.
** Jane Leblanc was not able to get a
partridge in a pear tree for Christmas Eve day but she offers a nice
consolation prize of a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] in a White Birch tree.
** The COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flammé]
are definitely starting to come to feeders from reports. Jamie Burris had a
first visit from a group of 6 on Wednesday along with HOUSE FINCHES [Roselin
familier] and a pleasant flock of EVENING GROSBEAKS [Gros-bec errant]. One male
Evening Grosbeak was gleaning the few remnants of Mountain Ash berries left.
Another report recently showed an Evening Grosbeak eating Staghorn Sumac
berries.
** Gordon Rattray reports that
Wednesday gave him 9 regularly expected species at his Weldon feeder yard but
an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW [Bruant hudsonien] made a 10th which was
the first visit for him of the season. Gordon sends a photo of a RING-NECKED
PHEASANT [Faisan de Colchide] enjoying a rather unexpected fare … suet. It fed
at it for approximately 30 minutes.
** Ray Gauvin shows a few more photos
of his PINE WARBLER [Paruline des pins] patrons. Ray comments that they seem to
enjoy the whole grain bread crumbs spread on the deck.
** The skies just would not cooperate
with cloud cover so Brian Stone could not capture the so called “Great
Conjunction” of Saturn and Jupiter at the appropriate time on the 21st,
but he did get it 2 days later after the main event. He sends his photo efforts
and also a screen print from the free app Stellarium identifying everything in
his image.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
