Nature Moncton Nature News: April 17 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 17, 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 .

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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

**Nature Moncton would like to thank Denis Doucet for his stellar presentation on dragonflies and damselflies at the Tuesday night Nature Moncton meeting. It was laden with interesting information and photographs as one would expect from a presentation from Denis.

Brian Stone also gave a very appreciated presentation in the second half of the meeting of his photos from the solar eclipse that very much caught the attention of the large in-house and virtual audience.

Thank you Denis and Brian for a great meeting!

Both of these presentations will be available as a recorded link and will be published in Nature News as soon as available.

** Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins looked out her kitchen window to see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on her maple tree. She was also surprised to see it was a female. Normally the male arrives first. In St. Martins, at a neighbour's house, she saw many Northern Flickers, and managed to get a distant flight photo nicely showing that brilliant flash of yellow.

** Lisa Morris noticed an older ‘condo’ tree on a ski/bike trail in Centennial Park. No current activity above or on the ground but she suspected the woodpeckers must have enjoyed the treats with all those holes. She was surprised not to see chickadees or squirrels ‘renting’.
(Editor’s note: I would be very surprised if we were able to look inside these cavities that we would not find evidence of Flying Squirrels or other wildlife making use of the many homes at the right price!)

**Shannon Inman photographed a group of approximately 20 Great Blue Herons that were being very vocal in the Harvey marsh area this week.
Shannon also noticed the emergent leaves of Trout Lily that get their name from the markings similar to that of the back of a Speckled Trout. This spring ephemeral plant will soon sport beautiful yellow blossoms and then all above-ground evidence of them will disappear to not be seen again until next spring.

A White-throated Sparrow posed in its finest breeding attire as well as a Red-belted Polypore mushroom which was also showing its prime identification features.

** John Inman reports he had a female Northern Cardinal drop by his Harvey yard a few days ago. John was able to get a nice photo of the polished form of the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle and also swarms of Midges that have appeared in the last few days. The male Brown-headed Cowbirds are very entertaining as they are trying to demonstrate to the females that each of them is the most appropriate suitor.

**Jane LeBlanc was bicycling near her St. Martins home and spotted a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers. They flew in opposite directions, but she managed a very distant shot of the male.

**Norbert Dupuis was able to capture a photo in the same frame of the two American Kestrels that are in his Memramcook East neighbourhood to compare the two genders.

(Editor’s note: many of our raptors differ little in gender plumage looking quite similar except that the female is often predominantly larger. The American Kestrel is one exception with the male and female being quite different in plumage.

The Northern Harrier is another raptor in which the genders sport different plumages.

Crows don’t tend to harass American kestrels as they do other raptors; however, Norbert got a photo where a Crow seems to be harassing a female American Kestrel.)

**Penny Clark just returned to her summer cottage at McKees Mills to find a stump that had been intact when she left in the fall in complete tatters and wonders ‘who done it’. The chunks left do not seem consistent with a Pileated Woodpecker and she wonders if some other animal may have dismembered it in search of forage.

Penny also shares a photo of a Mourning Dove nest that was placed in a low conifer tree just outside of her home. The Mourning Dove is certainly not known for its nest construction engineering abilities. The nest is very fragile, just enough to hold some eggs; however, it works for the Mourning Dove as their population is doing very well!

**That very early emerging plant Skunk Cabbage is on its mission and fast. Gart Bishop photographed a beautiful example on Monday on the banks of the Hammond River. This beautiful plant is not ephemeral but will produce huge rhubarb-like leaves when flowering is complete.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nature Moncton