NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
October 7, 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
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
at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Louise Nichols visited the Port
Elgin lagoon last Thursday morning and found lots of birds moving through the
trees on the road leading to the lagoon. The dominant species was the yellow-rumped
warbler, but she saw other warbler species, including black-throated
green, common yellowthroat, and blackpoll. Many cedar
waxwings of different ages were also present, as well as a blue-headed
vireo. The lagoon was populated by ducks, which were mostly too far
out for good photos: ring-necked ducks, scaup sp., American black ducks,
and green-winged teals. Louise includes one photo of three wood ducks,
a female and two males, at various stages of plumage transition.
**John Inman was able to catch a photograph
of a female red-bellied woodpecker that made a quick drop by on Monday. It was under the watchful eye of the resident raptors and also Stumpy, the three-legged raccoon, fattening up nicely before the winter.
**Brian Stone and Cathy Simon
checked out Wilson Marsh briefly on Monday morning and found that the glossy
ibis was still present at the same spot as on Saturday afternoon, but
still a bit distant for good photography. They also saw a pair of bald
eagles perched in a tree, and Brian took a photograph of a female hooded
merganser. A merlin flew past at high speed and landed in a distant treetop
long enough for a quick snapshot. As they watched a great blue heron fly along
the edge of the tree line, they saw it land in a tree that already had two other
great blue herons perched in it.
Later Monday evening, Brian set
himself up to photograph the full Harvest Moon as it rose over the horizon, but
a band of low clouds on the horizon foiled that effort, and Brian had to wait
until the Moon rose high enough to escape its cloud cover and begin to shine.
He tried a couple of wide-angle photos and then zoomed in for a close-up to
show more detail.
**Although Oct 25th is
a little way away, Cathy Simon would like people to sign up now for the
upcoming birdfeeder workshop to help with logistics and planning. The outline
of the workshop is below:
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 two 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.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
