NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December
03, 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)
**On Wednesday.
Mitch Doucet drove up to Indian Mountain & Stilesville. It was
boiling with dozens of EVENING GROSBEAKS, PINE SISKINS, 3 adult male PINE GROSBEAKS and over 100 COMMON REDPOLLS. They ran into a large flock of redpolls
on Indian Mountain and this LEUCISTIC really stood out of the crowd! It
actually appeared bigger than the other redpolls, but it could just be because
he was brighter. Mitch got some nice photos of the leucistic individual next to
a normally plumaged redpoll to nicely
show the difference. It is great to hear of the numbers of these 4 species we
could well enjoy at our feeder yards this coming winter to very much brighten
up the present scenario
** Brian Coyle shares more videos from
the large rock that has been so good to him in getting interesting trail camera
footage. It would be interesting to know how that huge rock ended up there …
glacial erratic??
One video shows a large group of immature RING-NECKED
PHEASANTS [Faisan de Colchide] seemingly being herded or monitored by an adult
male. Another video shows a PORCUPINE [Porc-épic d'Amerique] dropping by to
urine mark the rock. Yet another video shows an adult RED-TAILED HAWK [Buse à
queue rousse] that has landed on the rock with a good sized, unrecognizable
rodent prey and is privately having lunch (or at least the hawk thinks so).
Take a look at the action at the links below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7iaqje094q7p25v/STC_0002.AVI?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/st0rqigvbm4ik22/STC_0003.AVI?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wld5t4yvb636osv/STC_0008.AVI?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxlj44y0uatgk5n/STC_0028.AVI?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0bdoqi7w8znstt/STC_0059.AVI?dl=0
** Jamie Burris got a photo of a fish
that is common but that we seldom see, the ROCK GUNNEL. It has an eel-like
appearance and sometimes gets the name BUTTERFISH. Jamie’s grandkids found this
in the Northumberland Strait in September. This one was 3 to 4 inches long but
they can get much bigger.
** Eric Wilson was very pleased to be
another to have a NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] (male) arrive to his
Moncton Yard. Eric hasn’t seen a cardinal since he moved from Ontario 7 years
ago. Eric comments “I’m gonna pass out!”
** Aldo Dorio photographed a mature NORTHERN
SHRIKE [Pie-grièche grise] at Hay Island on Wednesday from 2 different angles.
The hook on the beak shows nicely. A GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] was still
at Hay Island, which we can expect to see the occasional one until freeze up
covers their food supply.
** It was a pleasant surprise to see a
new species arrive to our urban feeder yard on late Wednesday afternoon … a WHITE-BREASTED
NUTHATCH [Sittelle à poitrine blanche]. It would not seem like a normal habitat
for a White-breasted Nuthatch but I hope it continues to be a patron.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton