Nature Moncton Nature News: March 5 2015

Barb Jennings, in West Riverview, had a different raptor scenario occur in her yard on Wednesday morning when two MERLINS arrived and bolted in to attack a BOHEMIAN WAXWING. One Merlin took the prey and did not let the other one partake. It may not be nice to watch but it is nature at work. Barb's photos show many features of the MERLIN. Note among other things, the sharp pointed wingtip, the dark whisker mark below the eye, the vertically streaked belly, the white terminal tail band, then the black sub-terminal tail band followed by those broad black bands and narrow white bands. As one can see compared to the size of the WAXWING, the MERLIN is a smaller hawk and Dave Christie comments that the underparts are so grey it appears both are male and at this time of year he suspects both of them to be over-wintering birds.

** Sheila Spolk had a albinistic PURPLE finch appear at her St. Stephen feeders with a flock of PURPLE finches. It stayed several days during the stormy period but has not appeared in recent days. It is a female or immature male and the body appears leucistic but the tail and rump area seem totally white as in a partial albino.

** Brian Stone is in Dartmouth NS this week. There are some very interesting rarities there that include three COMMON GULLS. Brian has hooked up with Bernie Burke, a local HRM gull guru and they found two of the COMMON GULLS on late Wednesday afternoon at the infamous Sullivan's pond. He has the now famous EURASIAN KESTREL on his hit list that has been in the Hartlen Point area of Dartmouth for sometime.

Brian shares a photo of a moonrise over Sullivan's pond on Wednesday evening.

It seems like awhile since someone has found a COMMON GULL in NB. I wonder if some are here going undetected.

> Nelson Poirier,

> Nature Moncton

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca