Nature Moncton Nature News: October 16 2025

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

October 16, 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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Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Deana and Peter Gadd spent a couple of hours last Saturday at the bird banding station at L’Anse aux Amérindiens, Forillon National Park, located just north of the town of Gaspé QC. The station established in 2020, is one of three in Quebec operated by the Observatoire d’Oiseaux de Rimouski. The station is staffed daily by a dozen or more volunteers for 6 weeks in the spring and 3 months in the fall, starting in August. At this station, 15 nets are used to trap small birds, take biometric data, apply a leg band, and release the birds in as little time as possible. Over 100 birds are tagged each day, and so far this year, more than 14,000 birds have received the “adornment”! The daily operation lasts for about 6 hours, starting early in the morning. The nets are rolled up after the monitoring period to prevent accidental captures and marauding moose!

The bands are not often recovered but when they are, the comparative information is useful. The biometric data recorded is, of course, of value. The experienced bander can fairly closely determine the age and health of the bird.

The station held an open house this past Saturday in recognition of World Migration Day and is open on other occasions for a small fee. Peter and Deana, being the last group of the day, had their tour to themselves and were able to learn a lot about how the station operates. At the banding hut, they watched as about a dozen birds were measured, banded, and released. Black-capped Chickadees were the most common in this group, but there was a swamp sparrow and a white-throated sparrow. They have banded 80 bird species this year. In order to carry out banding, the presence of a specially trained and qualified “bander” is necessary.

The Forillon Banding Station is one of a worldwide network, and their data is uploaded daily to this web page: Forillon Bird Banding Station .
Here you can see daily reports from the Forillon station, species, number of birds, and so on.

(Editor’s note: I think it could be expected that we will see a significant number of these tagged birds this coming winter so definitely a report keep in mind.)

**Mark your calendars for October 26th for a Nature Moncton outing to the property of Peter and Janet Wright. This property is 10 minutes from downtown Moncton and consists of a large area of mixed forest, blueberry fields, bogs, and more. Peter is trying to assist in the restoration of the Acadian Forest that would be natural to this area. Fred comments that it's an interesting project that he would like to watch the progress of. Our walk will be guided by the owner and will cover some of the recent history.

Brian Stone and Fred Richards took in a preview and some photos are attached.

We will be walking on trails that are new and a little rough in places but fairly easy walking. We walked a little less than 2 kilometers and saw only a small portion of the place. A beautiful place for a fall walk. All are welcome.

The Address is 1030 Rte. 114 Hwy, Lower Coverdale, NB. And the start time is 10:00 AM.

Cross the Gunningsville bridge toward Riverview and, at the lights, turn left toward Hillsborough and continue 4.3 KM. The address is on the right side and the driveway is a little hard to spot at highway speed so it is best to slow down or you will have to turn around as Fred did.

Fred Richards

**There are still spots available for the bird feeder workshop on Saturday, October 25, at 10 AM. To new birders - this workshop is for you to learn the basics of feeding birds at home. To veteran birders - this workshop is also for you to enjoy talking about birds and learn how your feeder observations can be used for research. Registration is required, so sign up today!!

BIRD FEEDER WORKSHOP

🐦Leader: Cathy Simon

🐦Date and time: Saturday, October 25, at 10 AM

Do you like to feed birds in your yard or are you thinking about setting up a bird feeder in time for winter? Whether you’re new to setting up a feeder or have been doing so for years, we’d love to have you join us at the Bird Feeder Workshop on October 25. We’ll sit down with warm drinks and yummy snacks to talk birds! This workshop will include learning about feeder types, feeder placement, seed types, how to handle pests, how to keep the birds healthy and, most importantly, how your observations can contribute to 2 citizen science programs: Project FeederWatch from November to April and the Christmas Bird Count in December. We have some great bird feeder prizes to give away too! 🐦🐦🐦Registration is required. Please email Cathy Simon at smittybatman@hotmail.com to sign up. 🐦🐦🐦Participants are welcome to bring some snacks to share if they wish.