Nature Moncton Nature
News
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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 address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
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Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com
Proofreading courtesy of
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**A reminder again to make
sure to review the field outings arranged by the Nature Moncton activities
committee by scrolling down to yesterday’s edition, and to email the folks indicated
for the birdfeeder tour and the proposed pelagic trip to Grand Manan.
The Nature Moncton
activities committee is one of our most important committees and requires a significant amount of work. The members, who consist of Cynthia Doucet (chair), Jessica Belanger-Mainville, Gwen Clark, Matt Nguyen, Fred Richards, and Cathy Simon, are
getting 2026 off to a great start.
**After the heavy snow,
Jane and Ed LeBlanc in St. Martins had many birds at their feeders, including evening
grosbeaks, purple finch, and American goldfinch.
On Saturday, Jane
participated in the Rothesay/Hampton Christmas bird count. Bird species and
numbers were very low for her field party, probably due to cold temperatures. The find of the day was a suspected pine warbler.
**Lisa Morris observed a tree
that became a brief resting point for a large flock of birds staying
5-10 minutes. They murmured to the tree but didn’t appear to be eating anything
from the tree; then they flew off in large groupings intermittently. Lisa tried
to get documentary photos as much as she was able in the early morning sun that was
playing reflection games. In addition, her fingers and phone were too cold to
cooperate as she would have liked.
Gilles Belliveau confirmed
they were Bohemian waxwings from the vocalization heard in the video at
the link below:
**Tony Thomas has another
regular visitor to his suet feeder, a female downy woodpecker, although
she never comes at the same time as the male, which Tony shared a photo of yesterday.
**Nelson Poirier’s newest
yard patron, a red-bellied woodpecker, has been amusing as it has started chasing
away starlings. He’s not for hire!
Nelson
had to have two trees replaced on the city-owned property next to the sidewalk in front of his home.
He asked Dan Hicks, recreation and parks director for the City of Moncton, if
the replacements could be flowering crab. Dan graciously made that happen with two trees sporting crab-apples clinging to the trees this winter.
Caroline
Arsenault spotted a flock of Bohemian waxwings enjoying the crab-apples, which
Nelson missed. Caroline spotted a suspected Cooper’s hawk zoom in and
prey on one of the flock.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
