NATURE
MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE, Nov 21, 2021 (Sunday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**John
Inman in Harvey had an adult Red-tailed Hawk back for a meal to his yard and he thinks that it will be the 13th
winter it/one has come to enjoy meat scraps in his yard. Very pleasant yard
visitor indeed!
**Elaine Gallant saw an Eastern Screech Owl at Bechtel Park, Waterloo, Ontario while birding with a group lead by David Gascoigne on October 30, 2021.
This
species is not native to New Brunswick (as yet) but a bird to be aware of being
present in Southeastern Ontario which means the possibility of wandering to New
Brunswick. Take a good look at Elaine’s photo and be ready!
**Gordon Rattray was finally able to capture the Brown Creeper that has been visiting his yard this fall. It moves fast up the trees, and to another tree to start at the bottom and repeat the spiral climb to forage. (Editors note: note how the Brown Creeper uses its tail as a prop just as woodpeckers do).
Gordon cleaned his Tree Swallow boxes
last week. He has 6 located around water enclosures in Hillsborough. Each
box was used this summer by Tree Swallows. They were observed coming and going
in season. The nests looked good with no nest mortality with only a
single unhatched egg.
On Sunday, Gordon visited
Gray Brook Marsh. He observed 7 Common
Mergansers that were in two groups. There was also a pair of Hooded Mergansers and 3 American Wigeons. A Muskrat was also out for a swim.
**Fred Richards was cleaning up
outside in prep for winter and came across a Mourning Cloak Butterfly. It
was behaving as though it had just emerged with the wings opening and closing.
Fred thinks it came out from under a piece of rubber sheeting that was laying on a
pile of wood and may have raised the temperature enough that it felt like
spring under there. (Editors note: the Mourning Cloak Butterfly is one of only
a handful of butterflies that overwinter as an adult. Fred’s photos show
the colourful topside and the very cryptic underside when the wings are folded
against tree bark as camouflage).
**Aldo Dorio photographed a
doe White-tailed Deer with its fawn
on Saturday in Neguac. The fawn would appear to be small for the time of year
so assume it may be from a late-season birth.
**Brian Stone
visited the Memramcook and Dorchester lagoons on Saturday in search of several
rarities that had been recently reported. At the Memramcook lagoon Brian vainly
searched the very large flock of CANADA GEESE for the possibly present
Cackling Goose but was unsuccessful in locating it. Even though the geese were
relatively close Brian felt that a scope would have been very helpful to pick
the smaller goose out from the crowd, if it was still there. Binoculars were
either not up to the task or the goose was not visible or present. The GREATER
WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, on the other hand, was quite easily seen wandering
around in the group. In the lagoon itself there was still a group of NORTHERN
SHOVELER DUCKS feeding in their spinning circle.
At the
Dorchester lagoon only one of the two reported female TUFTED DUCKS was
visible, feeding together with a male RING-NECKED DUCK and a female BARROW'S
GOLDENEYE DUCK. The lagoon was nearly empty otherwise.
Nelson
Poirier
Nature
Moncton
