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.
If you would like to share
observations/photos with Nature News, contact the editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Please advise the editor
at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com, as well as proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca, if any errors are noted in wording or photo
labelling.
Proofreading courtesy of
Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
The camera on the peregrine
falcon nest box on the summit of Assumption Place is now live. When
checking the link to watch the activity, scroll down to the first large image,
which shows what is happening in real time.
All is outwardly quiet in
the nest box this morning, but that could be a very different scenario in a few
weeks!
https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
**Jane LeBlanc was back at
her neighbour's on Main Street Saturday morning. Nothing new had
appeared overnight, but she sent a photo of his American goldfinch tree. A
northern harrier went over, but the photo was not good enough to
share.
At home, she had a snowshoe
hare on her driveway, a hermit thrush in the woods, and a black-throated
green warbler...the first she has seen this year.
(Editor's note: Note that Jane's photo of the snowshoe hare has made the seasonal pelage colour change to brown. Nelson Poirier recently saw one in Miramichi that still had 50% white winter pelage.)
Later, Jane was surprised
when she had to stop the car in her driveway for a turkey. In over
40 years living there...that is a first!
**John Inman photographed a
young male red-winged blackbird putting on a show for the females.
John had a male rose-breasted
grosbeak that quickly moved on, and notes the blue jay numbers are
increasing.
**Many people are
reporting encounters with ticks. Some have been the potentially dangerous pathogen-carrying
female blacklegged tick, while some have been the non-pathogen carrying
American dog tick.
Louise Nichols sends a
photo of a male blacklegged tick. The male is quite small and does not attach
to humans to take a blood meal; however, the female does attach to humans and
can carry dangerous pathogens.
Louise also sends a photo
of the American dog tick. This tick bites humans but does not carry
pathogens in New Brunswick. The American dog tick is larger than the
blacklegged tick, and note the white ornamentation on the scutum (arrowed)
and often elsewhere on the body to easily distinguish it under close
observation.
**On Saturday, Brian Stone
drove out on Taylor Rd. in Second North River and slowly rolled along listening
for birds and scanning for butterflies. He stopped at one point and listened
for a while, but heard nothing, and as he turned his head to look back before
driving on, he was surprised to see a broad-winged hawk sitting on a
branch beside the road looking at him. It was just a few meters away and maybe 5
meters up in a small sapling. Obviously, it was quite comfortable there as it
stayed put and let Brian shoot photos from the car for about ten
minutes. The hawk eventually flew off and glided down the road just a
meter off the ground, probably searching for lunch. It landed on the side of
the road and seemed to be looking for something, and then it was up and away
into the trees in the distance.
Brian then had a nice
photo shoot with a curious black and white warbler before heading to
Wilson Marsh, where he photographed a female red-winged blackbird and a
female yellow-rumped warbler, plus a bright tricoloured bumblebee
on a dandelion flower. Brian heard other residents there, such as sora,
pied-billed grebes, and an American coot -- that is, when the several hot-rod
motorcyclists there weren't roaring past him along the trails.
**Larry Sherrard and
Nelson Poirier have chained a barrel to a tree in deep woods with various menu food
items inside and set up trail cameras to see who may be interested.
So far, patrons have been
nocturnal, so the photos are very documentary. A pine marten was one of
the first inquisitive patrons, along with a raccoon and a red squirrel. A black
bear wandered in and found there was nothing in the barrel that did not
excite its taste buds!
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
