Nature Moncton Nature News: March 24 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

March 24, 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.

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

The live feed to the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

**Have you heard of the Festival of Nature? Each year, the staff of Nature NB puts together a weekend of nature outings, workshops, and lots of social time with fellow nature lovers from all over the province. This year's festival will be June 7-9 in Woodstock. Tickets go on sale starting March 26^th for Nature NB members. Watch the Festival of Nature site for details on how to get yours. A future date will be announced for non Nature NB members. The full schedule can be viewed here: https://www.naturenb.ca/festival-of-nature/festival-of-nature-2024/

**There seem to be more reports of Carolina Wren observations at bird feeders than in recent years.

Last week, when Norbert Dupuis was photographing birds in Yolande LeBlanc’s Memramcook yard, his Merlin App told him it heard a Carolina Wren. On Saturday afternoon, a Carolina Wren came to Yolande’s feeder on their patio seen from the living room window. Kudos to Norbert and Merlin!

**John Inman reports a 5th Fox Sparrow and a 3rd male Brown-headed Cowbird, a few of the crows and 3 of the 7 White-tailed Deer that come, not counting the number of Rock Pigeons and Raccoons etc, make it hard to keep enough birdseed out.

** Gordon Rattray’s yard was very busy Saturday; maybe the birds felt the pressure of the approaching storm. Gordon recorded 19 species in his yard on Saturday which included the expected normal species, but also some spring arrivals. Gordon had his first chance to photograph a Purple Finch even though it had visited briefly for a couple of days. A Fox Sparrow also joined the first-of-year list in the yard. Gordon had three sparrow species as well as some Dark-eyed Juncos. He also had three Woodpecker species: Hairy- male and female, Downy- male and female, and a male Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Red-bellied Woodpecker has continued to visit almost daily since last fall. Gordon’s yard was bombed by blackbirds: Common Grackles in a swarm of over 50, Red-winged Blackbirds of nearly 20, to be finished off with a flight of over 20 European Starlings. Needless to say, there was not a seed of any kind left at the end of the day. Gordon includes pictures of the American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Common Grackle, and Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins was surprised to see a pair of American Tree Sparrows in her yard on Saturday. She also had a dozen Red-winged Blackbirds briefly. They didn't stop for photos. She also noticed some of her many American Goldfinches starting to molt to brighter colours.

**Brian Stone shares some of the live screenshots photos from the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera on Saturday.

**Nelson Poirier took note of 2 very interesting booths at this weekend's Moncton Boat and Sportsman show.

DFO had a booth displaying the invasive Zebra Mussel that has been problematic in other jurisdictions. It has recently been found in New Brunswick around large dams. Nelson was surprised at how small this mussel is compared to our other native mussels and took comparative photos.

The New Brunswick Invasive Species Council also had a demonstration booth that showed excellent examples of the Emerald Ash Borer beetle and the signs of the damage it makes in ash trees showing the S-shaped galleries of the larvae and the small D-shaped exit holes of the adults. The adult insects are very small, only a little larger than an apple seed and easily recognized. Photos were taken of some of the demonstrations at the booth.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton