Nature Moncton Nature
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The snow buntings have
arrived in New Brunswick for the winter, with 3+ reports in one day! Some
juveniles are in dark plumage, with the adults showing much more white and
light brown ground colour.
**While Marbeth Wilson was
looking at ducks at Cape Tormentine Wharf, she noticed a small flock of birds
land on a grassy/rocky area; they were snow buntings that had arrived
for the season. They started feeding on the seeds of small bushes. There were
approximately 15 of them.
**Jane and Ed LeBlanc were
walking their dog on the beach in St. Martins Sunday morning and noticed
movement on the rocks. They thought maybe late 'peeps', but looking through her
long lens, Jane discovered they were snow buntings. She doesn't remember
seeing them at all last year, so for them to be here this early surprised her.
**John Inman photographed a
great blue heron heading upriver near his Harvey home, a few common
grackles and red-winged blackbirds dropped in his yard, and on Saturday
evening, a visit from a female red-bellied woodpecker.
Down the road in Harvey,
Shannon Inman spotted a few snow buntings.
(Editor’s note: it will be
interesting to watch over the winter as these nonbreeding plumage arrivals brighten
into beautiful breeding plumage for next season.)
**Gabriel Gallant sends a
few observations from his Ste. Antoine home. On Halloween morning, just before
dawn, a barred owl started to call from the woods behind his home while he was
outside feeding his chickens.
While he walked around his
yard and field on Sunday, he watched a male and two female white-winged
crossbills in a spruce tree.
** White-tailed deer
are in the midst of their breeding season at the moment, and mating rituals are
in progress. The males (bucks) are much more demonstrative than the females.
Brian Coyle captured a
great video that shows a young buck in action. At the beginning of the video, he
scrapes an overhanging tree branch with his antlers to leave his scent, then paws
the ground to create what is called a scrape. It then urinates in the scrape.
The male makes several scrapes and checks them frequently to see whether they
have attracted any females. This is demonstrated in the link below:
**Hooded merganser are
fairly commonly seen in small groups at this time of year. The males that were
in eclipse plumage in late June to August, looking like females, are back in
prime breeding plumage, which they will retain until next summer. They prefer
freshwater where their fish prey is available and tend to stay with us until
freshwater sources freeze over, then migrate to areas of open water. Some will tend
to stay if they can find freshwater areas or water that is not to saline.
Nelson Poirier
photographed a few groups of hooded merganser in the upper Miramichi River on
Sunday with the males “in full bloom”.
In a second photograph, a
pair of mallard ducks seem to appreciate one of the abundant Canada
geese potentially soon waving its wings goodbye!
**Bob Blake maintains daily
weather statistics of morning low temperatures, daily high temperatures,
and monthly precipitation from his Second North River home.
Bob sends a chart
comparing those statistics for October 2025 with October 2026 at this one site.
Some morning temperatures
were significantly lower in October 2025 than in October 2026, yet daily highs
were higher on several days in October 2025 than in October 2026.
Precipitation, as
rainfall, was higher in October 2025 than in October 2026. However, 2026 had
much more precipitation as rainfall earlier in the season.
|
2025 |
2026 |
||
|
morning temperatures |
daily highs and rainfall |
morning temperatures |
daily highs and rainfall |
|
+19-1 day +18-1 +17-1 +14-1 +13-1 +12-5 +11-2 +10-3 +9-2 +6-1 +5-3 +4-2 +3-5 +2-2 +1-1 |
+29-1 +28-1 +23-1 +20-4 +19-1 +17-1 +16-4 +15-2 164 mms. rain |
+16-1 +12-1 +11-1 +10-1 +9-1 +8-1 +7-2 +6-4 +5-1 +4-4 +3-2 +2-2 +1-2 0-3 -1-1 -2-2 -3-2 |
+22-1 +18-2 +17-4 +16-2 +15-4 119 mms. rain |
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
