Nature Moncton Nature
News
Clicking
on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.
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.
The weather the past few
days information line 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
**Rheal Vienneau
experienced a sure sign of oncoming spring when he encountered a group of
thousands of snow fleas while snowshoeing to his cabin in Belleisle
Creek. Take a look at the action in the video below that Rheal captured:
(Editor’s
note: Snow fleas are actually springtails, not related to the commonly known flea.
They have a springlike appendage called a furcula that allows spectacular leaps
to give them the name flea. Their body chemistry consists of a powerful
biological antifreeze that lets them emerge in grainy snow on warmish winter
days. They are with us all year, but are very obvious with a white background. They
also come in other colours such as coral, but black is the most common. They
forage on detritus and are completely harmless to humans.)
**John Inman
photographed a standoff between a white-tailed deer and a barred owl popping its beak at the deer while sitting on its flying squirrel meal. The owl
won out as the deer quickly left, while a few of the 76 mourning doves continued
to enjoy their menu.
**On
Saturday, the Nature Moncton Birdfeeder Tour took place in nicely cold
weather under cloudy skies with occasional mild snow flurries. Brian Stone
and Deanna Fenwick report that the group was treated to an excellent breakfast
at Fred and Susan Richards' home in Taylor Village while they observed their
selection of birds through their windows in comfort. The next stop was at
Yolande LeBlanc's home in Memramcook, where another nice selection of birds was
watched at her feeders. Then at Gordon Rattray's Weldon home, a
similar variety of birds were viewed, as well as a fast-moving bald eagle
that blurred its way through Brian's attempted photo. This was a special eagle
that was called up by Gordon on demand as he was explaining how bald eagles
commonly fly up the river past his yard, and one immature bald eagle did just
that as he was telling the story. You can't get better service than that. The
group finished their outing at club president Cathy Simon's home, where hot
drinks, crafty cupcakes, and various other treats were enjoyed while staring
out the living room window at even more resident birds.
A list of
birds photographed on the tour includes American goldfinches, American tree
sparrows, blue jays, northern cardinals, black-capped chickadees,
evening grosbeaks, hairy and downy woodpeckers, dark-eyed juncos,
white-throated sparrows, white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches, rock pigeons,
one very blurry immature bald eagle, and a well-behaved red squirrel.
(Editor’s
note: There have been a few comments lately about the lack of birds in the area,
but I think the birdfeeder tour showed there were lots about from the photos
Deanna Fenwick and Brian Stone share.)
Nelson
Poirier
Nature Moncton
