NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, May 17, 2021 (Monday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by Susan Richards susan_richards@rogers.com
Info Line #: 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** I don’t how it crept up so suddenly after all
the earlier planning, but Nature Moncton meeting night is happening tomorrow
night, Tuesday, May 17 with a presentation on BAT HOUSING AND PRESENT NB BAT
STATUS with Karen Vanderwolf. It will be a zoom presentation and the contact
link to participate is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87261352355?pwd=d0ZIMUdoeXpvZ2QxdGV1N3VkbnJOUT09
A full
write-up of the presentation is below:
Nature
Moncton May Meeting
May 18,
2021 at 7:00 PM
Virtual
Meeting
Presenter:
Karen Vanderwolf
“Bats -- Their
Present Status in New Brunswick and Man-Made Suggested Housing”
The
relatively sudden appearance of the fungal disease White-nose Syndrome in New
Brunswick came close to decimating our cave bats.
It was first
discovered here in March 2011. Karen Vanderwolf was very instrumental with Dr.
Don McAlpine in documenting the dramatic decrease of bats in the cave
hibernating that population. However, Karen did field work for her PhD during
the summer of 2019 in New Brunswick and found that bats are persisting and
reproducing despite being exposed to White-nose Syndrome for many years. Karen
has conducted a lot of research in caves and mines and has studied other
aspects of cave biology.
Karen’s
interest in bats has continued and she is currently finishing her PhD on bats
at Trent University in Ontario.
Karen has
become involved with the Canadian Wildlife Federation in projects to study bats
and bat housing. She will give us information on the present status of bats in
New Brunswick and suggestions on man-made housing to assist bats.
This
presentation will be virtual and the link for anyone anywhere to join in will
be
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87261352355?pwd=d0ZIMUdoeXpvZ2QxdGV1N3VkbnJOUT09
**Stella Leblanc got a wonderful photo of a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW [Bruant à couronne blanche] and WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
[Bruant à gorge blanche] side by
side at their Bouctouche feeder yard on Saturday. Surely at the right place at the right time
to see these 2 Sparrows together. The
White-Crowned Sparrows are making their short window of drop-by visits at
feeder yards as they are on route to breed to the north of us.
**Andrew Darcy participated in the Nature Moncton
Warbler outing on Saturday and had a fantastic morning! They actually logged 10
warbler species altogether if you include the Ovenbird (also a ‘wood warbler’)
we heard at White Rock. Darcy did manage to get photos of all observed species
(some were just record shots as the birds were moving around quite a bit and
sure kept him on my toes as warblers usually do but also got some really nice
ones as well). The rail line was quite productive and species seen included
PALM WARBLER [Paruline à couronne rousse], YELLOW WARBLER [Paruline jaune],
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER [Paruline à croupion jaune], MAGNOLIA WARBLER [Paruline à
tête cendrée], BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER [Paruline noir et blanc], AMERICAN
REDSTART [Paruline flamboyante], NORTHERN PARULA [Paruline à collier],
BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER [Paruline à gorge noire] and BLACK-THROATED BLUE
WARBLER [Paruline bleue]. These were the first warblers of the year for Darcy
and Northern Parula was a lifer so he was quite pleased! Was a fantastic day
and the weather, birds and company were top notch indeed! The trip to White
Rock Recreational Area added a FOY (first-of-year) BLUE-HEADED VIREO [Viréo à
tête bleue], and female YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER [Pic maculé] to his species
list. He went back to the rail trail after the outing just to see what he could
see, and actually added another two warbler species to the day list; a
BLACKPOLL WARBLER and a CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER which made for a total warbler
count of 12 species! I feel there were
probably even a few more species lurking around. The 50 or so BLUEJAYS that
flew over was also quite a spectacle to see!
**Ray
Gauvin sends a photo of his 16-year-old,25 ft. high Star Magnolia. In its 3rd
week of blooming, it’s very close to full bloom and losing its pedals already.
It started
losing pedals last week in the heavy rain and wind.
Presently
it has a beautiful aroma. Unfortunately, the flowers only last a short time,
usually 3 weeks and after shedding, to make way for beautiful green leaves all
summer.
**Doreen Rossiter in Alma reports that she has never
had such diversity and such high numbers of birds in her yard and that is
really significant as traditionally Doreen has one of the more active feeder
yards. Every expected regular is present
in very significant numbers with the exception of the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak,
which will probably be there today! A BALTIMORE ORIOLE [Oriole de Baltimore] arrived to enjoy clementines, a GRAY CATBIRD [Moqueur chat] is at the suet feeder with the YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS [Paruline à croupion jaune] and a pair of NORTHERN
CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] dropped
by early Sunday morning.
**Jane and Eddie Leblanc canoed out on a lake near
their St. Martin’s home on Sunday. Eddy
manned the paddle and Jane took full advantage to get some great COMMON LOON [Plongeon huard]
photos.
As an interesting aside Jane also have photographed
Calico pennant Dragonflies [Libellules fanion calico] at the same lake in later
season.
Jane also had a first spring male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK [Cardinal à poitrine rose] visit her yard on Sunday. Note the reduced red patch on the chest, dark
spotting on the breast and the mantle area not dense black to indicate
immaturity.
**Peter Gadd has had his first visit from a GRAY CATBIRD [Moqueur chat]to his Miramichi yard and pleased to partake of a
diverse arrival diet of fresh orange with a juicy sizable earthworm as a
chaser. Some of Peter’s photos show a
bit of the cinnamon undertail covert of the Gray Catbird.
The male, RED-BELLIED
WOODPECKER [Pic à ventre roux] that the Gadds’
have hosted all winter is still dropping by occasionally and looking very prime
for spring. One can even see the red
blush on the belly. If only a mate was
in the area for this handsome male, interesting things could happen. I expect the singles’ bars are fairly sparce
for match-making for the species!
**Daryl Doucette had a pair of Northern Cardinals pay
an early morning visit to his Moncton yard again, hopefully a nearby nesting is
imminent.
**Gordon Rattray had 2 species to his Weldon yard
Sunday that were new for him to the yard.
The NASHVILLE WARBLER [Paruline à joues
grises] photos nicely show the white eye-ring,
lack of wing bars, grey head and yellow throat.
A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur
polyglotte] also settled for a co-operative photo and less
co-operative photo to flash its white wing patches as it lifted off.
**Aldo Dorio got a photo of a NORTHERN FLICKER [Pic flamboyant] having chosen a cavity nest site as real estate at Hay
Island. The photo seemed to indicate a
male with black moustache. The lady of the house must be nearby.
**Mac Wilmot in Lower Coverdale notes there is an
amount of sod tumbling down the eroding bank when the new channel was breached
and the Petitcodiac River starts to recover its former channel.
Mac points out for weeks they could only see the head
of a BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête
blanche] above the rim of the nest at Bud
Creek. He is wondering if perhaps there
has been a hatch as the adult is often on the rim of the nest now.
Mac also photographed a CANADA
GOOSE [Bernache du Canada] and her
goslings not particularly concerned with the slippery slope of the Petitcodiac
River bank at low tide.
**Mathieu Carroll points out a mushroom we found in
very high numbers in a burn over site the past week is now called the Stalked
Bonfire Cup. Gary Lincoff refers to them
as Pyxie Cups. Sometimes with mushrooms
for certain identity the scientific name is needed. One of Mathieu’s photos is attached.
One that we were really seeking was the true Morel and
did find modest numbers of the BLACK MOREL (Morchella elata) which is the most
choice edible I have ever savoured. We
had them sauteed with Striped Bass filet for Saturday night and the same haute
cuisine was repeated on Sunday evening.
They are classed as choice in the Lincoff guide, I would class them as
delectable. Photos attached of the
single mushroom.
**A male YELLOW-BELLIED
SAPSUCKER [Pic maculé] has arrived
to sample the menu of our camp feeders.
Their choice is normally jam which is in the orange-coloured
feeder. Holes in the bottom of the cups
let some jam drip onto the peanut butter below and the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
is finding the peanut butter and jam a haute cuisine choice. Usually, a female soon follows and the
youngsters when they fledge.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
