** Roger LeBlanc had a great audio show from his Notre-Dame residence late
Wednesday evening. Several duck flocks flew over in migration. The predominant
sound and numbers were from BLACK SCOTERS [Macreuse noire], followed by flocks
of LONG-TAILED DUCKS [Harelde kakawi]. There was one duck species of which Roger
was uncertain. The audio show was accompanied by a few WILSON'S SNIPE [Bécassine
de Wilson] providing backup vocals to the symphony overhead. Roger says the
ducks were flying fairly low, possibly due to the low fog bank that
evening.
** Marguerite and Bill Winsor and Paul and Rhonda Langelaan were birding
in the Havelock area on Wednesday. They came across a partial albino AMERICAN
ROBIN [Merle d’Amérique]. Partial albino birds are always very interesting, as
there is only one copy of each individual, which creates an incredible variety
of plumage when this genetic quirk appears. Marguerite got photos.
** WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS [Bruant à gorge blanche] are suddenly appearing
in lots of feeder yards. Janet Cormier got a nice photo of a very bright male
that joined her feeder troop on Wednesday.
** Linda Banks comments that she had 24 BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu] in her
Riverview yard on Tuesday evening. A significant portion of our Blue Jays do
migrate south in the winter, so Linda’s visitors would likely incoming spring
migrants. [Transcriber’s note: Perhaps related is the fact that I haven’t seen a
Blue Jay at my Mary's Point feeders since Apr. 16, after having seen them daily
since sometime in autumn. — DSC] Linda also noted that some of the PINE SISKINS
[Tarin des pins] are showing much more bright colour in their plumage.
** Two of Brian Stone’s FOX SPARROW [Bruant fauve] patrons decided
Wednesday was bath day and did so with great enthusiasm in a yard puddle. One
made the water fly wildly in all directions, as the other watched. Then they
would exchange places. A third watched the whole procedure but decided not to
make the bathing session a trio.
** As mentioned in an earlier edition, Anne Marsch and I saw a hawk in the
Hopewell Hill area on April 11 that we felt very confident was a RED-SHOULDERED
HAWK [Buse à épaulettes]. We got modest observations of it but could not get
what we thought was a documentary photo. Anne got a very quick photo out the
window of the vehicle, which we thought was not definitive. However, Brian Stone
put his magic touches to it and Dave Christie gave an excellent commentary on
why he agrees that the photo was indeed of a Red-shouldered Hawk. Dave’s
comments (attached) are too good not to be shared, and may help others.
Quoting Dave...
“In addition
to your assessment of call and the reddish underwing coverts, I agree that the
hawk is a Red-shouldered, not a Broad-winged. The prominently checkered
secondaries, are a conspicuous feature of Red-shouldered, whereas Broad-winged
is more uniformly dark on the upper side of the wing. The pale crescent at the
tip of the wing is also suggested on the primaries. Further, the upper side of
the tail shows three distinct broad black bands separated by white, whereas a
Broad-winged normally shows two well-separated dark bands on the upper side of
the tail, beyond the less conspicuously marked
base.
There is even the suggestion of some rufous among
the upper wing coverts, but that may not be reliable given the poor photo
quality. The pattern of flight feathers and tail is much
clearer.”
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
