NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
January 21, 2025
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
and proofreader Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca 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
**The Nature Moncton January Meeting will take place
tonight, Tuesday, January 21. The details are below, but this presentation on
tracks, scat, and skulls is one that will give much more information to folks
present at the Mapleton Lodge (rather than virtually) as a portion of it will
be hands-on.
The first half hour will be easily shared virtually, but the hands-on portion may be harder for the virtual audience to actively participate in. We encourage people, if possible, to be present at the lodge.
**Nature Moncton January Meeting
January 21, 2025, 7:00 PM
Mapleton Rotary Lodge
Presenter: Caitlyn Robert
Now that January has arrived, the onset of snow will give
us great opportunity to check out what wildlife signs are left behind in the
form of those telltale tracks and scat that cause us to speculate on who’s been
there and whodunit.
Caitlyn Robert, Program Coordinator for Nature NB, has many
tips to share which will help us learn more about how to read these cryptic
wildlife clues. In addition, Caitlyn is
skilled at skull identification and will bring lots of examples to illustrate
what ID features to look for when we come across skulls in the wild.
Originally from Quebec, Caitlyn has always been
fascinated by wildlife. Having studied Environmental Biology at McGill, she has
worked as a butterfly garden guide in Costa Rica and Ontario, as a swallow
bander and shorebird mist netter for the Canadian Wildlife Service in NB, and
as a wild bird rehabber and raptor educator at the Vermont Institute of Natural
Science. Eager to return to Canada and
eyeing living in New Brunswick since her summer with the CWS, she jumped on the
chance to work with Nature NB where she can use her expertise and passion for
the environment to get folks of all ages outside and excited about nature!
Caitlyn will be giving this presentation live, but anyone
anywhere is invited to join in via Zoom at the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81738262894?pwd=iXZCgKbhMjep0OahoVjnzZ571pvqmo.1
All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.
**It is not often that we get good observations of the American
Goshawk around birdfeeders as it is normally a species of deep forest
habitat.
Frank Branch in Paquetville has had an adult American
Goshawk checking out the patrons of his birdfeeder yard, and he was able to get
good photos of it on Monday.
(Editor’s note: Note the overall grey plumage and the
signature supercilium (eyebrow) of this raptor.)
**Lynn and Fred Dube have offered to build some special
birdfeeders for Nature Moncton as a fundraiser to support other projects.
These feeders will be on sale to Nature Moncton members (35$) and non-members (40$).
Some will be available at tonight’s meeting.
These feeders are designed to protect the seed inside from
getting wet as well as designed to promote hygiene by making it less likely that feeding birds will defecate in
the food. They are easily refilled with a hinged top and
sloping Plexiglas side windows to see the level of seed. The amount of seed put
into the feeder will allow it to be used up in two or three days to further provide
clean fresh food. The feeders hang with a chain and can be orientated so the
birds feeding on each side can be observed.
It is recommended that purchasers paint the feeders
with Helmsman Spar urethane (clear satin) or a similar product, which will make them last a long time and look very aesthetic, as in the photo shown below accommodating Evening
Grosbeaks.
**Jane LeBlanc had birds galore at her feeder Monday
morning after a big snowfall. They included a Red-breasted Nuthatch and
White-breasted Nuthatch, two Golden-crowned Kinglets, two American Tree Sparrows, a
female Northern Cardinal, many Evening Grosbeaks, Purple
Finches, American Goldfinches, Black-capped Chickadees, and other regulars.
It was like Grand Central Station for a while, with Jane not sure where to aim
the camera first.
**Lynn Dube reports a lot of activity Monday at their
Lower Coverdale feeder yard but not a great variety: Many American Goldfinches,
Black-capped Chickadees, and Dark-eyed Juncos; a few sightings of Hairy and
Downy Woodpeckers but no sign of the Pileated Woodpeckers; a few Mourning Doves
and Crows as well as Red-breasted Nuthatches and a Brown Creeper. One
photo is from Sunday before the winter storm.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
