Nature Moncton Nature News: March 13 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

March 13, 2024

Nature Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

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 .

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins had a fresh-looking Red-winged Blackbird in her yard several days ago. This morning, it was a pair of Common Grackles. None posed for photos. Tuesday afternoon, she noticed two female Evening Grosbeaks, and they did stay for photos.

**Yolande LeBlanc had an American Robin arrive at her Memramcook yard on Monday, and two more on Tuesday.

They were feeding on areas of bare ground to suggest some ground-dwelling invertebrates may be near the surface.

We can very soon expect to see many American Robins checking out areas of thawed ground.

Yolande still has her Chipping Sparrow which has been with her for approximately a month. It is starting to molt into summer breeding plumage but is just starting to do so.

**Magda Kuhn and Grant Ramsey send some photos of birds they are seeing on the west Florida coast just south of Tampa.

These include the Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and Red-Shouldered Hawks.

All 4 of these species have visited New Brunswick with breeding records for the Red-shouldered Hawk.

The editor was unsure about the Red-shouldered Hawk photos but a consult with Gilles Belliveau gave the answer below:

“I believe they are both Red-shouldered Hawks. Florida birds are quite pale so the one on the left looks like a typical adult Florida Red-shouldered Hawk. The one on the right is a first-year bird and while it doesn’t really show any noticeable banding on the undertail, you can see a bit of the primaries and they appear heavily marked with white and the underparts look OK for this species as well. The bird on the right also appears larger, so it may well be an adult male on the left and a first-year female on the right (though not confident on the sexes as the photo may simply be making it appear that the one on the right is larger).”

The Wood Stork is a rare visitor to New Brunswick and the Roseate Spoonbill has only one documented record of being seen in New Brunswick.

Grant comments on the Wood Stork “If this is the guy that brings babies, from the look on its face, you take what you get!”

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton