Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 23 2021

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, 23 January 2021 (Saturday)

To respond by email, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com

Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Catherine Clements

Info Line #: 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

**After yesterday’s REDWING [Grive mauvis] report, Richard Blacquiere reports by coincidence he happened to see a report of a Redwing found in Lumsden, Newfoundland on Thursday, January 21st. Richard had to look up Lumsden on the map. It’s an out-of-the-way place, but apparently not a bad location to catch birds blown in from the North Atlantic. That was Newfoundland’s second Redwing report in as many years.

I didn’t get any positive news from John Inman on Friday, and didn’t hear of any further sightings, but the/a Redwing is in the area.

**Vicky McKnight in Petitcodiac captured two excellent photos of a COOPER'S HAWK [Épervier de Cooper], one in flight and one perched, showing several nice features of a Cooper’s Hawk versus the easy to confuse SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun]. Note the round tail apex with the central tail rectrices longer than the side rectrices, the bright white band on the apex of the tail, the grey nape to give the capped dark crown, and the heavyset legs. If the utility pole perch is indeed 9 inches, it makes the bird 18 inches, to put it nicely in the Cooper’s Hawk size range.

**Brian Stone checked out two places on Friday – Riverview Marsh and Wilson Marsh. At Riverview Marsh he didn’t walk in far, but just a short distance on the trail off Hawthorne Drive, to see if the NORTHERN SHRIKE [Pie-grièche grise] was still hanging out at the spot mentioned a couple of editions back. It was there as expected, perched on the top of a tree in that only group of trees. Brian took a series of distant photos to illustrate the spot, and how even at a distance the little guy still shows up clearly as something different. As people walked their dogs past the Shrike it would fly down to the ground, and then fly back up as soon as they passed. This bird obviously has a hunting territory claimed at that site. At Wilson Marsh the trail was super-icy and hard to walk on, especially the first hill. A big tree in the yard at the top of the trail was clustered with 100+ BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal]. A group of TREE SPARROWS [Bruant hudsonien] was in the bushes there as well. Nothing presented itself along the lower trail and out into the marsh. Not a Redpoll [Sizerin] in sight.

A solar halo pushed its way through the snow flurry.

**My Moncton feeder yard is dripping with COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flammé] at approximately 75-100. The crowd seems to have turned off the PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins] and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH [Chardonneret jaune], which were in significant numbers before the Redpoll fallout, but now in much smaller numbers. The crowd does not seem to bother the Sparrows [Bruant] and other expected regulars.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton