Nature Moncton Nature News: December 14 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Dec 14, 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

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Richard Blacquiere stopped by the Saint John McAllister Mall parking lot Thursday morning (11 Dec 2024) and checked over the roosting Ring-billed and Herring Gulls for anything unusual. Two of the Ring-billed Gulls were carrying leg bands. Richard took a couple of hundred photos, a few of which were in focus enough to decipher the numbers on the bands. It turns out that Richard had seen both of these gulls before and has the details of their known history.

Gull #1 – This gull has 2 bands; one is the federal band, and the other used to be part of a colour band that has since fallen off. It was banded as a subadult in Worcester, Massachusetts on Nov 2012. This is the 3^rd time it has been recorded at the McAllister Mall lot. The other 2 sightings were on 29 Dec 2022, and 21 Dec, 2023.

(Editor's note: that makes this gull 12+ years of age.)

Gull #2 – This bird once carried a blue colored band that has fallen off. Banded as an adult on June 12, 2011, on Ile Deslauriers, Varennes, Quebec, as part of a study by researchers at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM). It was previously recorded in the same Saint John parking lot on 6 March 2024.

(Editor's note: that makes this gull at least 16 years old as it was an adult when first banded.)

Richard finds it remarkable that they are able to find their way back to this specific location every year to spend part of the winter. Saint John must be an attractive winter home for gulls. Perhaps an advertising opportunity for the city’s tourism department?

(Editor’s note: Richard’s observations are real fodder for thought. The birds he has observed are obviously travelers but have returned to the exact same spot at the same time of year and obviously have a reason for doing that.

Are the several American Tree Sparrows in Nelson Poirier’s birdfeeder yard the same or part of the same group that was here last year? Chances are they are similar to the scenario with Richard’s gulls. When birds drop by our birdfeeders and seem to be very familiar with the yard and acting in the same manner, they probably have been there before, and many newer ones traveling with them fit in quickly.)

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton