Nature Moncton Nature News: March 19 2015

** Kelly-Sue O’Connor reports a BARRED OWL [Chouette rayée] has been outside her parent’s home at Stoney Creek for the past two days. It was first spotted on March 17 and was still there on Wednesday. It’s very close to the front door, by the driveway, and appears to be stalking the feeders for food. It attacked her father’s car as he was leaving for work on Wednesday. It has been mobbed by AMERICAN CROWS [Corneille d’Amérique]. If anyone would like to see it, they are welcome, but with recent aggressiveness of the owl, she would suggest small numbers of observers and keeping some distance from it. It’s a long driveway, nestled in the woods, with a couple of ponds and usually attracts a good variety of birds, and there is a possibility of viewing the owl without disturbing it. The phone number is 867-0939. It’s important to give this owl its space. Kelly-Sue took some awesome photos at a distance with her zoom-lens camera, and these are shared today.

** Fred Dubé comments on what he feels is a sure sign of spring, the arrival of a pair of MALLARD [Canard colvert] ducks in his Lower Coverdale yard, right on schedule, as they have done for five years. It took snowshoes to get the cracked corn out on the lawn area, and the offering was willingly accepted. Fred also says that the large number of COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flammé] seemed to disappear for a few weeks but were all back with the passing storms. PURPLE FINCHES [Roselin pourpré] are now showing up at his feeders.

** Brian Stone shares some photos from our mission to Deer Island last Friday. Some photos are not clear due to a lot of air turbulence above the water. Some birds shown are female BUFFLEHEAD [Petit Garrot], non-breeding plumage BLACK GUILLEMOT [Guillemot à miroir], COMMON LOONS [Plongeon huard] and a male NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] that happened to be at TUFTED TITMOUSE [Mésange bicolore] feeder as we arrived. After a very quick photo, it never re-appeared.

Brian shares an Internet prediction of AURORA BOREALIS [aurore boréale] that shows it would have been very possible to see a display of northern lights in New Brunswick on Tuesday night, had the skies been clear.

** Marlene Hickman comments that her Dorchester feeder yard is modestly quiet, except during snowstorms, as on Wednesday, when there was a very active range of visitors in good numbers, especially PINE SISKINS [Tarin des pins], COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flammé], EVENING GROSBEAKS [Gros-bec errant], BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu] and EUROPEAN STARLINGS [Étourneau sansonnet]. Marlene says that she’s starting to feel a little bit used by her feeder patrons.

** Richard Blacquiere leaves a comment on the tall SUNDOG [faux soleil] I shared a photo of on yesterday’s edition. He points out that nice tall sundogs are not a frequent sight. Elongated sundogs indicate large plate ice crystals. Their large size makes them aerodynamically unstable and they wobble a lot as they float down through the atmosphere. The wobble stretches the sundog vertically.

** [Transcriber’s note: A sound of advancing spring at Mary's Point on Tuesday morning was the singing of the overwintering SONG SPARROW [Bruant chanteur]. — Dave Christie]

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca