NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 5 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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respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line
editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
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Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if
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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:
**Jane LeBlanc was notified by her neighbour on Main St. in St. Martins that he had a Baltimore oriole in his yard. Jane got documentary photos in dense fog. While she was there, a gray catbird arrived, and hearing drumming behind her, Jane turned and saw the red-bellied woodpecker that spent the winter there. Dense fog made for poor photography conditions.
**Richard
Blacquiere took advantage of a break in the rain Sunday morning to check for
new arrivals in Hampton. He was rewarded with his first spotted sandpiper,
gray catbird, black-and white warbler, northern parula warbler, and
northern waterthrush warbler. He added chimney swift to the list in the
early evening after the rain had ended. Documentary photos of some of those
birds are included. What a nice parade of newbies!
**The overwintering rusty blackbirds left
John Inman’s yard on April 20, but an adult breeding plumage male rusty
blackbird dropped by on Sunday.
Other interesting drop-ins included a swamp
sparrow, a female northern cardinal, and a magnolia warbler hiding
deep in the cedars to avoid the sharp-shinned hawk.
John Inman had yet another juvenile
bald eagle land in his front yard to enjoy his gaspereau fish dinner in the
rain.
**On Tuesday, Brian Stone visited the
Sackville Waterfowl Park to discover more than 100 yellow-rumped
warblers catching insects along the boardwalk, frequently buzzing visitors,
and perching right beside them on railings and walkways. They were also picking
bugs off tree bark and seemed to be imitating nuthatches with their behavior.
Joining the warblers were two rusty blackbirds that were following the
same patterns.
While he was there Brian photographed a male American
wigeon, a pied-billed grebe, some tree swallow activity, and
some honeybees on male pussy willow catkins. The air in spots above the water of the ponds was thick with
clouds of gnats or midges.
(Editor’s note: note the full pollen sacs [corbicula] on the tibia that Emily Austen pointed out as being specific to
honeybees and bumblebees, with most of the other species carrying their pollen
in clusters of specialized hairs [scopa])
**On Thursday Brian Stone briefly visited
Mapleton Park to get a bit of fresh air and got just a few photos including his
first dandelion flower of the season, a new fern popping up, some
nodding trillium just beginning to unfurl, a small northern azure
butterfly, and a black-nosed dace minnow in one of the small
streams.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
