NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Jan 27, 2022 (Thursday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Stella and Jean-Paul LeBlanc paid a visit to Cap Lumière Wednesday afternoon where they spotted a flock of Snow Buntings. It seems early, but flocks recently photographed seem to be taking on more white in their plumage than when they first arrived.
**Fred
and Lynn Dube came across a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle wondering
about their home on Wednesday.
This
is a non-native lady beetle species that has become very numerous in North
America. Our native lady beetles pass their winters outdoors; however, this species seeks out warmer areas to overwinter and is often found in human
dwellings overwintering. Often, they are in groups tucked into a corner our
crevice but this one seemed to be wandering around seemingly interested in
houseplants.
**Gordon Rattray’s Weldon feeder yard is very busy these
days with 12 to 14 different bird species every day. Hairy Woodpeckers
have been slow to arrive, but two males and a female have found the suet
feeders this week. Gordon has six Dark-eyed Juncos coming daily, one is
observed to have a color variation from the expected normal. The junco
has buff colored sides and a well-defined grey hood. Hopefully Gordon can get
more photos of this bird to establish or negate the possibility of one of the
subspecies such as Oregon or Pink-sided or possibly an expected female.
**From their
kitchen window, Fred and Sue Richards watched an American Tree Sparrow on
the ledge feeder looking out at the 4 Ring-Necked Pheasants on the ground under
the line of feeders. They get sparrows, juncos, American Goldfinch,
Black-capped Chickadees and Blue Jays on the ledge feeder. Wednesday was the
first day that there were 4 pheasants, 2 males and 2 females and they stayed
for about an hour and will probably be back around supper for a while
again.
They have
put peanut butter and lard and 'bird grubs' overall on the shelf feeders for
the woodpeckers, including a Northern Flicker. (Editor's note: this mixture attracted Eastern Bluebirds last winter) The flock of 30 or so American
Robins come around when there is a little grass showing.
We are
expecting a snowstorm this weekend again so will need to keep the feeders
cleared and topped up as those little birds will need energy to make it through
another storm.
**Brian
Stone visited the Riverview Marsh trail on Wednesday to look for the foxes and
owls reported by Georges Brun in the last edition of the blog but was unable to
locate either target on the Riverview side. There were long lines of fox tracks
everywhere though as they had covered large areas searching for prey. A large
percentage of the tracks were located on the actual trails as it seems they
were easier areas to walk on even for the foxes. Smaller track trails of mice,
voles, or shrews were abundant also and were frequently mixed in with the fox
tracks.
Beside the
TransAqua facility a female RING-NECKED PHEASANT was struggling through
the deep snow and it took to flight as Brian walked past and landed up in a
spruce tree to keep a lookout. Also, an AMERICAN ROBIN flew from a tree
top to give a flight photo.
Brian then
crossed over to the Moncton side of the river at the Chateau Moncton hotel area
and easily managed to locate the two RED FOXES from the boardwalk there.
They were foraging along the Riverview edge of the river which explains why
they were not seen on the Riverview side. They trotted along the edge, stopping
occasionally to dig for prey and also to engage in what looked like mating
attempts.
As an added
extra Brian sends a photo of a RED SQUIRREL nibbling a nut on his back
deck.
**I’ve had a male Pileated Woodpecker drop by our Moncton feeder yard several times, but nothing seemed to really interest it to forage on other than the grapevine and beetles in a dying tree. I like trying new suet mixtures to see what may be attractive to suet connoisseurs. I had been trying a ‘butcher sawdust’ blend of bone and suet/meat that an acquaintance was getting up to 8 Canada Jays coming to it. It did not seem to interest any of my patrons. I melted some of it down and added a flavouring of peanut butter and put it out Wednesday morning. To my surprise, the male Pileated Woodpecker arrived within a ½ hour and went right to it and back several times to the same treat over the day. It tried some of the other mixtures but immediately back to its favoured choice.
I find when
putting out a new food choice, birds usually are hesitant to use it for a few
days. That sure didn’t apply this time so I’m yet to see if other suet
connoisseurs like it as well.
The other
thing that surprises me about this bird. It makes very loud calls when present
which the other birds seem to completely ignore, yet a screaming Blue Jay gets
everybody on alert. Even the skittish Morning Doves ignore it.
Normally a
pair of Pileated Woodpeckers are monogamous and take on a territory they guard
year-round. I have never seen a female in the area which makes me wonder if
this is a young male settling into a territory.
Photos of
it gobbling down its find our attached.
I also came
across a female Ring-necked Pheasant enjoying a feed of rose hips on Wednesday.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
