NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January
07, 2021 (Thursday)
To respond by e-mail, 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: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** Pierre Janin has a busy diversity of
birds patronizing his Dieppe feeder yard including 3 sparrow species that
include WHITE-THROATED SPARROW [Bruant à gorge blanche], AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS
[Bruant hudsonien] and a CHIPPING SPARROW [Bruant familier]. The Chipping
Sparrow does not often overwinter in New Brunswick and is easily overlooked.
Pierre’s photo nicely shows the the dark eye line extending past the eye to the bill to confirm the winter plumage Chipping Sparrow. The upper
mandible does retain varying amounts of dark which the photo does show nicely.
One of Pierre’s COMMON REDPOLL [Sizerin flammé] photos shows the rose chest of an
adult male and it will be getting much brighter as the season progresses.
Pierre also feeds approximately 40 MALLARD DUCKS [Canard colvert] with a pair
of AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS [Canard noir] joining them to provide a head portrait of one of that duo appearing to be the male member showing the greenish/yellow bill and
streaked/grayish throat.
** After Yvette Richards’s observation
of a SNOWY OWL [Harfang des neiges] at the Cassie Cape wharf on Tuesday Ray
Gauvin made a run to see if it still might be there on Wednesday but did not
locate it and saw only 1 duck there which he got a very pleasant photo of, an
adult female COMMON EIDER [Eider à duvet], in the wharf compound. Ray does
share some photos of a Snowy Owl that he saw near the same location in 2014
that he watched for 20 minutes, seeing it in a field, in a lone tree, and after
a few location changes up on a utility pole over his head for a chat with it before
it headed off on its mission.
** To add to a Snowy Owl comment made
on yesterday’s edition about Snowy Owl markings Roger Leblanc checked with
Birds of the World and I am quoting some of their commentary below that Roger
passed along.
“The Snowy Owl is one of the few owl species showing
delayed plumage maturation.
First year males and females are heavily marked with dark brown
barring and spotting (females most heavily barred). Second year
birds less marked in males, slightly less in females. Unknown how
many years it takes for males to reach pure white adult plumage,
and
females to attain adult plumage."
Birds of the World
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
