NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
April 13, 2025
Nature Moncton members, as
well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond, are invited to share
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editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
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Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
To
view the live feed of the Peregrine Falcon nest cam on the summit of Assumption
Place in Moncton, go to:
**Our proofreader, Louise, is away until Tuesday. Please advise if any errors are noted.
**After being postponed for a week, the predicted showers this evening (Sunday) make salamander night!
Salamanders, Salamanders, Salamanders Field
Trip
Date: Sunday, April 13, 2025
Time: 8:00 PM
Meeting Place: Gulf Fisheries Centre parking lot
(343 Université Ave, across the road from the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University
Hospital). From the meeting place, we will head to Crowley Farm Road and walk a
short distance (10 minutes) through the forest to a vernal pool. The terrain is
mostly flat but can be very slippery when wet.
Leader: Andrew Darcy
When the first warm spring rains arrive in April, the
local salamander populations awaken from their winter slumber and head straight
to the same pond that they originated from. If you are determined enough to
head out into the forest at night when it’s raining, then you may get lucky
enough to witness a spectacle of nature that is not seen by many.
Join Andrew Darcy for a nighttime excursion to a local
pond that has a variety of amphibian species present (wood frog, leopard frog, green
frog, and two of the Ambystoma (“mole”) salamander species (spotted and blue-spotted
salamander).
The timing can be tricky when trying to witness the full
spectacle of the Ambystoma spring migration. A new date has been chosen: Sunday,
April 13, 2025!
Bring a flashlight or headlamp and rubber boots, if you
have them, as the path to the pond will be fairly muddy.
Andrew’s cell # is (289) 439-3600 if you need further
directions, etc.
All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.
**Karen and Jamie Burris had a flock of 70 bohemian waxwings
visit their Riverview backyard on April 8th. They completely cleaned every
berry from their highbush cranberry and all the berries on the ground as well. They were there for three hours and left with their crops full!
(Editor’s note: We have not seen the numbers of this species that we get during some winters, so it was a very pleasant surprise to have a
flock of 70 drop by for lunch.)
**Jane LeBlanc heard a lot of drumming around her St.
Martins yard and discovered a downy woodpecker using a Nature Moncton birdhouse
as a drumming post. He seemed to like both the top and bottom plates, but she
doesn't think the house has ever been used.
She also caught a white-throated sparrow and a male
northern cardinal but missed the pileated woodpecker. She also saw her
first great blue heron of the year and heard local reports of several
groups in the area.
**Norbert Dupuis photographed a pair of mourning doves
appearing to be in a devote courtship in his Memramcook yard on Saturday.
**Luc Richard was surfing the Petitcodiac River on
Saturday when he was a bit surprised to have a couple of rainbow smelt join
him on the board!
The spring smelt spawning run is on schedule.
**Brian Stone checked out the ponds of Salisbury’s
Highland Park on Saturday and found them to still be quiet, with low duck and
other bird numbers. However, he heard and saw the pied-billed grebes for
the first time this season. The grebes were far out in the middle areas of the
pond, and photography of them was difficult, but Brian tried his best to turn
the poor photos into pleasant images in post-processing.
The male red-winged blackbirds had no
reservations about getting close to the camera, though, and there were some
brave muskrats who didn't mind an audience for their lunch break. A male
hairy woodpecker tried to hide behind a maze of branches, and some very
distant evening grosbeaks perched high in a tree across the river from
the park.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
