Nature Moncton Nature News: April 8 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 8 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

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

**No more talking about it or waiting for it -- today’s the day of the much-anticipated solar eclipse. For those participants with Nature Moncton, a test run yesterday put the sun in a perfect position at the perfect time at Nelson Poirier’s Miramichi camp, watching it glide in the sky with no obstructions whatsoever!

**The Peregrine Falcon now has 3 eggs and is ready to start incubating. She appears to be a happy mom this morning covering her precious cargo in the sun.

Yvette Richard shares a screenshot she captured when mom took a little break to show what we will all now be watching.

**Richard Blacquiere witnessed a phenomenon most of us have not seen or possibly not recognized.

There was a nice example of Langmuir Circulation on Hampton’s Ossekeag Creek Sunday morning. Water in the lower Kennebecasis River system is currently quite high, and the Creek’s emergent marsh is now flooded. The wind Sunday morning over what is now a long, narrow body of open water, created ideal conditions for the circulation to develop. The link below has a nice explanation of how Langmuir Circulation forms and what Richard saw.

https://scienceprimer.com/langmuir-circulation

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins was surprised to see a pair of Evening Grosbeaks in her yard last week. They have been mostly absent all winter.

**Grant Ramsey and Magda Kuhn send photos of birds they are seeing in Florida, some of which are occasional visitors to New Brunswick with the Common Gallinule now becoming a bird breeding New Brunswick. The photos they share include:

- Common Gallinule with chicks

- Purple Gallinule (a rare visitor to New Brunswick)

-Painted Bunting (a rare visitor to New Brunswick)

-Royal Terns

-Sandwich Terns (a rare visitor to New Brunswick, showing the bill tips ‘dipped in mustard’ and black legs as ID features)

-Black Skimmers (a rare visitor to New Brunswick). Grant comments that they “will generally all face the same way, and often will rest with their heads down as though on a pillow”

-Yellow-headed Blackbird (This bird is way out of its range and would not normally be seen either in New Brunswick or in Florida. It is common on the western side of North America.)

- Hooded Warbler (a rare visitor to New Brunswick but is probably in migration north)

**Brian Stone recently photographed a recently arrived 1st-spring male Red-winged Blackbird showing its teenage plumage.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton