NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
November 30, 2024
Nature
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**The
overnight snow Friday morning resulted in busier activity at Peter Gadd’s
bird feeders in Miramichi. One of the very early visitors was an American
Tree Sparrow making its first visit of the season. As well as the usual
Blue Jays, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, American Goldfinches, Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped
Chickadees, Mourning Doves, and a couple of Rock Pigeons, a European Starling also paid its first feeder visit of
the season. Not unexpected!
Later,
it was a case mid-morning, of being in the right place, at the right time (in
the garden) with the wrong camera! A hawk came by chasing a Blue Jay, and it
landed in an oak tree some distance away. The photos below are weak but Peter
is identifying it as a Cooper’s Hawk until he is convinced otherwise.
The photos seem to show a flat, somewhat large head with the light colouration of
the nape. The light streaks on the chest are grey, and the bird, during a very
quick glimpse, seemed considerably larger than the Blue Jay it was chasing.
Looking at Sibley’s Bird Guide, these characteristics indicate a Cooper’s Hawk
rather than a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The legs though do look thin. This is usually
a difficult identification situation!
Speaking
of pigeons, Peter has provided a photo of a structure that has reduced
dramatically his pigeon problem of a few years ago, 30 to 60 pigeons visiting
daily. Smaller ground-feeding birds can make it through the 2 in mesh on
the 4 x 2 x 8-foot frame. The losers, of course, besides the pigeons, are the Mourning
Doves. Smaller Blue Jays (presumably female) can enter. Peter
scatters a small amount of seeds outside the cage for breakfast time, relying
on the doves, jays, and squirrels to clean them up before the late-rising
pigeons arrive. The strategy has worked. Perhaps though, two or three pigeons do come
by later for a bit, to glean underneath the elevated feeders. Unavoidable.
**First
snow of the winter! Janet Hammock comments “It was fun on Thursday night to
look out into her Sackville back garden and see the three bird feeders
swinging there in the snowy darkness, ready for an early morning breakfast
treat! Upstairs the Niger seed feeder was filled and hanging off the huge
spruce outside her studio window, ready to beckon the chickadees to stop by for
a delicate, nourishing feed this morning.
**Gart Bishop took note of a brave Common Tansy that was still in bloom down near Saint Andrews on Thursday.
**Brian
Stone visited Nelson Poirier on Friday afternoon, and during his visit, he took
an occasional photo of some of his yard birds that were enjoying his feeders. A
couple of the several American Tree Sparrows, a male House Finch,
a Mourning Dove (with no tail feathers), and an elusive female Northern
Cardinal were the only patrons photographed. The male cardinal was just
elusive enough to avoid the camera completely.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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