NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 3, 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.
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Proofreading
courtesy of 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:
**Louise Nichols visited a Sackville trail on Thursday morning in the bright, warm sunshine and was happy to find spring birds active. As soon as she began walking the trail, she saw a bird in the trees, which turned out to be her FOY blue-headed vireo. Other spring birds seen and photographed were purple finch, hermit thrush, and ruby-crowned kinglet. She was also lucky to come upon a boreal chickadee in a group of black-capped chickadees, and she was able to get only one documentary photo of it before it disappeared. As she continued to walk the trail, she could hear what seemed to be a second boreal chickadee calling, but she was not able to catch sight of it.
Louise also includes a photo of yellow-spotted salamander egg masses that she observed in the small pond in their Aulac yard.
(Editor's note: Note two hermit thrush photos today. The hermit thrush is normally the first of the thrush family to arrive, with the exception of the earlier American Robin.)
**Sharon and Bob Blake had their first male
ruby-throated hummingbird arrive on Friday morning, which Bob comments is eight days earlier this year.
They also had their first female red-winged
blackbird on April 30, which blends with Richard Blacquiere’s report of
yesterday.
**On Friday, May 2, 2025, Brian Coyle was
making his way back to his house through the woods from a short hike when he
heard the unmistakable drumming of a pileated woodpecker in his backyard. It
seemed unbothered by his presence as he entered the yard and kept on drumming
as he made his way into the house to retrieve his camera. He was able to get
several photos and a few videos of it as it drummed right next to a hole in a
hollow tree. Only upon editing the images did Brian notice that this
was a female. Brian was surprised, as he assumed that only the males drummed.
After some consultation and a bit of research, he discovered that both the male
and female drum.
This information was copied from
Cornell Lab/ All About Birds.... "Both sexes drum powerfully on
trees at any time of the year, typically a fairly slow, deep rolling that lasts
about 3 seconds. Males drum in late winter to establish and defend a territory,
both sexes drum as part of courtship, and either sex may drum to solicit
mating, to summon a mate from a distance, or in response to an intruder near a
nest."
Brian got some video of the action as well as
photographs. The video clips can be viewed by clicking on the links below:
**David Lily photographed a cooperative female
Merlin along the train tracks in Oromocto on Thursday.
(Editor’s note: From reported observations,
it would appear the Merlin is a raptor whose population is doing well. Like many other raptors, this raptor suffered the effects of DDT, but numbers came
back on their own. This pugnacious raptor does not seem to mind nesting near
human habitation.)
**Fred Dube and Fred Richards installed 10
nesting boxes around the newer retention pond in Sackville on Friday morning.
Although they did not see any swallows or bluebirds flying around, this looks
like a great spot for swallows, and they will be interested in seeing what the
results will be.
They did see a few ducks and one small
shorebird that was unidentified.
**Lisa Morris watched a tree swallow
at the entrance to the nest box while its mate is seen on the wire above
(right) after chasing a bird away from the box (grackle-sized bird,
unconfirmed). This box is on Hillcrest Drive on Jones Lake in Moncton by the
small grassy knoll.
**Brian Stone shares a few more photos from
his trip to Jemseg on Monday, including a close flyover by a northern
harrier and an even closer flyover of an osprey. He saw a couple of
bald eagles, including a very scruffy-looking immature one, and a pair of tree
swallows using a weathered nest box on a power pole.
While hunting turtles, Brian found a
stern-looking frog (a less common brown leopard frog suspected) and a
couple of mourning cloak butterflies, while a muskrat swam past that slapped the water hard when
it dove under. The muskrat will occasionally slap its tail as a warning signal similar to the beaver.
In one
field, Brian drove past a horse that was lying prone on the ground,
probably having a good nap. When Brian returned past the same field later, the
horse was standing normally and interacting with its fellow horses.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
