NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 9, 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 the 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 nicholsl@eastlink.ca

To view the live feed of the Peregrine Falcon nest cam on the summit of Assumption Place in Moncton, go to:

https://webcams.moncton.ca:8001/peregrine/peregrine-live.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawJdGIFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHk6PWHAVzYNOM_AvcwlRDWSUBFmlUxhKEbV3voUgipPkoHcTlnpv4U7f7LQa_aem_9v2jVeF5eb4aJ2FD5V1XLg

**Tonight, Wednesday night, is Nature Moncton movie night. All details in the write-up below:

NATURE MONCTON MOVIE NIGHT

🎥Films: Fix & Release and Toad People

🎥Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at 7 p.m.

🎥By Zoom

🎥Leaders: Cathy Simon & Wendy Sullivan

You are invited to a movie night on April 9, 2025, beginning at 7 p.m.. This event will be by Zoom only.

Together, we’ll watch 2 very short nature documentaries and then Cathy and Wendy will have some questions for discussion afterward. The two documentaries will be “Fix & Release,” which is about the work of the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre, and “Toad People,” which is about local residents saving western toads in British Columbia.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86209324703?pwd=yYs1YH2zEHQJIop88Avndeotq9jdyd.1

**Lance Harris gives an update on what has been coming to his feeders since early February. For his first time, two northern cardinals appeared and can be heard in the distant woods, perhaps establishing a nesting territory. On Tuesday, a small flock of evening grosbeaks visited for the first time. Lance has had a permanent residency of a flock of American goldfinch and watched the males turn bright yellow in the past month with two purple finches among them. They love the new Nature Moncton feeders Lance put out for that crowd. Downy and hairy woodpeckers are also back, and there seems to be some fighting over the nesting boxes so far. Red squirrels are also involved somehow. Lance has no need for cleanup on the ground as a mallard duck pair come in three times daily and vacuum everything. The other regulars are black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, and nuthatches.

Lance also notices a porcupine foraging on a neighbour’s lawn.

**Susan Rousseau in Sussex comments, “Another blessing today on my walk on the Sussex trail. The black-capped chickadees like to come to my hands for a few sunflower seeds on a cold day after I call them. That also puts a smile on my face!"

**On Monday afternoon, on his way home from his visit with the Ross's goose in Rothesay, Brian Stone stopped in at the Hampton lagoons and spent some time photographing some of the newly arrived spring waterfowl life. The lagoons were not quite crowded with birds yet, but Brian photographed a few examples including male and female American wigeons, male and female lesser scaups, male and female wood ducks, male and female common goldeneye ducks, a male bufflehead duck, male and female green-winged teal ducks, a male northern shoveler duck, a couple male ring-necked ducks that shared photo space with other ducks, and a fly on a coltsfoot flower.

**Nelson Poirier got a surprise on Sunday when driving the TransCanada Highway from Saint John when he spotted a turkey strolling across the highway. It turned out there were actually three, all male toms. These were assumed to be not truly wild turkeys due to the location and the lack of brown at the tip of the tail, which is a feature of the truly wild turkey. Nelson had seen mounted specimens of wild turkey at the Moncton Sportsman’s Show the day before and photographed one that shows the brown tail tip (arrowed).

A stop at the Hampton lagoon gave a pleasant show of waterfowl and turkey vultures. The predominant waterfowl species were gadwall, bufflehead, lesser scaup, and northern shoveler, with a few wood ducks.

Also noted en route were a red-tailed hawk and a male kestrel.

We don’t often see the fisher in southern New Brunswick. Nelson photographed a mounted specimen at the sportsman’s show that nicely shows a close-up of this mammal with its long bushy tail and completely dark body that can be helpful in identification.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier.

Nature Moncton