Nature Moncton Nature News: March 7 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

March 7, 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

**It would appear the seasonal black invasion is underway. A few days ago, John Inman had five Common Grackles arrive to his Harvey yard, and one Red-winged Blackbird with them. On Wednesday, two more Red-winged Blackbirds arrived and Common Grackles have gone to 20. John also noted an American Goldfinch showing some brighter yellow areas of seasonal change.

**On Tuesday March 4, 2024, at 7 AM Eric Wilson reports he heard, then saw, a First-of-Year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. It was a male, tapping vigorously and loudly on a metal portion of a residential light standard on Rural Estates Drive in the north end of the City of Moncton. It was announcing its territory and the official beginning of tree-tapping season!
(Editor’s note: This is a very early date for this species to return. It may be in for a nasty welcome the next few days)

Then a distinct smell of a FOY skunk was located further south on the same road. Then Eric smelled a second skunk that was on his back steps!

**Nelson Poirier and Brian Stone toured the areas of Deer Island, Black's Harbour, Beaver Harbour, Saint Andrews, and Wawieg on Tuesday in search of New Brunswick's finest nature. The weather started generally cloudy but soon deteriorated to heavy mist and fog past Saint John and remained that way the rest of the day. They persevered anyway and managed to find a few special examples to photograph and enjoyed the quest for the rest immensely.

Their favourite finds of the day were Great Cormorants both on the ferry ride and on Deer Island itself, Black Guillemots in various plumage stages, many Common Eiders, and several Wild Turkeys on Waweig roads. Also seen on the ferry ride and elsewhere were Bufflehead Ducks, Long-tailed Ducks, Common Loons in winter plumage, Red-breasted Mergansers, and many gulls.

The female Common Eider often shows no white whatsoever in the plumage however there are 2 small areas of white that show in a photo of a female Common Eider lunching on a Sea Urchin, one of their favourite prey items.

The Maritime Sunburst Lichen (Xanthoria parietina) added a brilliant blaze of colour to the grey shoreline rocks.

A surprise scenario took place at the Letete Deer Island Ferry when 2 large colourful domestic geese appeared to check out what business Nelson had to be there. Nelson took the opportunity to get photos. The geese were not impressed and charged in an attack posture, hissing and bills ready for a good bite of human flesh! Both Nelson and the geese went into standoff until a polite agreement was ironed out and all left the scene, Nelson pleased with his photograph and the geese pleased that they had put the run to him. An earlier encounter with a third different domestic white goose at the scene was much less dramatic.

Nelson consulted domestic goose expert Ron Arsenault as to species and Ron returned some excellent comments too good not to share so they are quoted in the paragraphs below as Ron shared them:

“I agree with you that these are domestic geese, as indicated by their heavy build. These birds are the domesticated descendants of the wild Greylag Goose found in Eurasia. There are about 100 recognized domestic breeds of domestic geese, not to mention crosses and backcrosses between these breeds, which leads to animals that, at least in my opinion, can only be referred to as 'barnyard geese'.

Given the number of existing breeds and that crosses can end up looking exactly like a purebred parent (even an F1 cross can look exactly like one purebred parent and show little resemblance to the other parent), without additional information from the breeder or the results of DNA tests (assuming standards against which to compare exist), one should remember that one deals with probabilities as opposed to certainties when it comes to identifying a breed.

To me, these geese look like the French Toulouse. I base this on their plumage colouration, their large size, as per your description, and the fact that this breed is available in Canada, including the Maritimes. Please note that there are two varieties of this breed, the French Toulouse, which is the one these might be, and the Dewlap Toulouse.

As for the white goose with a 'structure' on its head, I am wondering if it might be a white Chinese Goose. Note that a second species of goose, the Swan Goose, was also domesticated. From this species, two breeds, the African Goose and the Chinese Goose were developed. Each breed also comes in several colours, including a white variety. These two breeds have a knob on their forehead. Could this be the "structure" you saw on the white goose? I understand that this knob is quite sensitive to frostbite. Could you have seen a knob damaged by frostbite? Note that I have never seen this type of injury, I have only read about it.

You also asked if a hybrid between a Moscovy and a goose would be possible. My understanding is that a hybrid between a goose and a duck is not possible. Note however, that a gander with no mate and penned with ducks will attempt to mate, and at times may even succeed, but such a mating will not result in viable offspring.”

**On Monday Brian Stone was alerted by his wife Annette that the local Red Squirrels were starting to lick the sap running from spots on the branches of their backyard maple tree once again, heralding the early beginning of spring. They seemed to enjoy this long waited for treat and acted more energetically after long sips of the new sap, being ‘full of sugar’ as some parents describe their children after their encounters with candy.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton