NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 2, 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
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To
view the live feed of the Peregrine Falcon nest cam on the summit of Assumption
Place in Moncton, go to:
**Aldo Dorio has been successful in attracting eastern bluebirds to nest in his Neguac yard for several years.
They arrived on Wednesday morning to check
out the nest box that had been successful for them in recent years.
(Editor’s note: a nice example of nest site
fidelity.)
**Peter and Deana Gadd had a visit to their
Miramichi yard by a white-crowned sparrow, sharing the fallen spillage
on the lawn beneath some elevated feeders with chipping, song, and
white-throated cousins. In recent weeks, the American tree sparrows
have departed for the north, and a fox sparrow dropped in for a few
days of nourishment on its way north.
(Editor’s note: We will only tend to see the
white-crowned sparrow and the fox sparrow on their refueling stops as they
migrate from wintering grounds to the south of us to breeding grounds to the
north of us in spring and do the opposite in fall. The American tree sparrow
also heads off to breed to the north of us at this time, but doesn’t migrate as
far south for the winter, joining us here in New Brunswick.)
**Shannon Inman checked on the area where she
saw the 17 bald eagles recently, and their numbers went to 23!
(Editor’s note: seeing this number of bald
eagles in one spot at this time of year in that area would make one wonder if
the gaspereau run may be the object of interest.)
Shannon also managed a distant photo of three brant
on the wing.
**Jane and Ed LeBlanc took a drive to Jemseg
on Wednesday. They found most or all of the osprey nests occupied. Some
other duck species were also there as the river level was quite high. They also found a
number of painted turtles.
(Editor’s note: The fish prey the osprey is
enjoying appear to be gaspereau.)
**John Inman reports that the parade of
raptors seems to have moved the big flock of blackbirds on their way, hopefully
to their breeding territories and not overwhelming bird feeder yards.
John shared a photo of 6 of the 11 chipping
sparrows that have arrived at his yard, as well as a pine warbler and
a first-of-the-year male ruby-throated hummingbird, as an April entry
advanced guard.
**Barb Curlew observed some tree swallows inspecting
the bluebird boxes that were installed in Waterside last year. Eastern
bluebirds did occupy one of the boxes last year, but they haven't been seen yet
this year.
**Ray Gauvin in Shediac is having the huge
buds of the cultivar star magnolia burst into their beautiful blooms
ahead of the leaves to put on a spectacular spring show.
**On Wednesday afternoon, Brian Stone visited
Highland Park in Salisbury to see if the trout lily flowers were in
bloom yet and was rewarded with a view of fields of bright yellow flowers on
the steep banks of the newly connected upper trail. He also found that the
patch of bloodroot flowers on the pond trail was in bloom too. He heard
a sora calling at the west end of the ponds, and a 20-minute wait
revealed it swimming from one patch of reeds to another. Towards the east end
of the ponds, an American coot was also trying to hide in the reeds but
was too close to the shore to be successful.
Along the trail on the river side of the
ponds, a beaver had chewed down one of the larger trees, and Brian wondered how
many more might fall. Also photographed were a male and female American
wigeon, a male blue-winged teal, a female hairy woodpecker
unconcernedly pecking holes in a tree beside Brian, a hairy little bee fly,
a tiny black spider wasp, a shiny bright green six-spotted tiger
beetle, and a leopard frog relaxing in some shallow water. Two comma
butterflies were noted, one possibly being an eastern comma butterfly
and the other possibly a green comma butterfly. Brian is looking forward
to more small critters emerging as the warm weather continues.
Bob sends a table to compare the statistics
of April 2024 with those of April 2025.
It can be noted that the daily temperatures
did not seem to differ greatly; however, there is a notable difference in precipitation
in rainfall that was recorded in April 2025. Lots more rain, but it seemed to happen
in April’s dying days.
|
2024 |
2025 |
||
|
morning
temperatures |
daily
highs and rainfall |
morning
temperatures |
daily
highs and rainfall |
|
-5-1 day -3-1 -2-1 -1-4 0-5 +1-4 +2-2 +3-2 +4-1 +5-1 +6-5 +8-2 +12-1 |
+18-1 +17-1 +16-2 +14-2 +13-2 +12-2 +11-2 +10-1 11cms. snow 49 mms. rain |
-5-1 -2-3 -1-2 0-2 +1-2 +2-3 +3-3 +4-1 +5-2 +6-5 +7-1 +8-2 +10-1 +11-1 +13-1 |
+22-1 +15-2 +14-2 +13-5 +11-1 +10-3 7 cms. snow 127 mms. rain |
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
