Nature Moncton Nature News: May 7 2015

** Janet Cormier had a new bird to her Salisbury Road feeder yard on Wednesday, a sharply dressed NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur polyglotte]. It would seem the Moncton population of this bird is on the increase. The bird was later singing in a yard tree so assume it to be a male. Janet also photographed a GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier at Lars Larsen marsh area on Sunday.

**Lois McGibbon got photos of a BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER [Paruline à gorge noire] on Wednesday near her Anagance home. The exposure makes the dorsum of the head not show the darker crown to confuse the identification a bit but second opinions confirm it to be this species. Lois also saw her first SPRING AZURE BUTTERFLY of the year on Tuesday.

**Louise Nichols, Brian Stone and I visited the Sackville Waterfowl Park on Wednesday to hear and see some of the great things that happen there at this time of year. Some of the highlights, some of which were captured in photos, were a PIED-BILLED GREBE [Grèbe à bec bigarré], taking several minutes to down a fish it insisted was not too big for it, hearing and seeing RUSTY BLACKBIRDS [Quiscale rouilleux], much appreciating the antics of the SORA [Marouette de Caroline] and capturing a photo of these elusive characters. There were also SWAMP SPARROWS [Bruant des marais], YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS [Paruline à croupion jaune], PALM WARBLERS [Paruline à couronne rousse, and Louise got a brilliant male YELLOW WARBLER [Paruline jaune after we parted. Lots of expected ducks and met Park Interpreter for the summer Will Balser who expect we will hear lots more from over the summer. He will be starting a blog many of us visiting the park will want to check out.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton