Nature Moncton Nature News: March 7 2016

** Louise Nichols re-visited the tree where she recently saw a GREAT HORNED OWL [Grand-duc d'Amérique] perched behind their Sackville home. Obviously, the owl has been using the tree as a frequent perch, as she found whitewash on and under the tree. This is the normal feces of most birds, showing the white urate, as in birds, the bowel and kidney waste is excreted together. It’s a great clue to help find a perch tree or a nest tree. Louise also found several regurgitated owl pellets, showing hair and bones. Take note of the photo marked “d” that shows what appear to be two good-sized claws or nails of a prey item. Good sleuthing, Louise!

** As many are aware, Jim Wilson and Rhéal Vienneau are making yeoman efforts in New Brunswick to monitor and rear MONARCH [Monarque] butterfly larvae for release to help this species in challenge. Jim has saved a large amount of SWAMP MILKWEED [Asclépiade incarnata] seed to encourage people to plant it to assist the Monarch butterfly. Recent news mentioned on this information line suggests an improvement this year in Mexico’s overwintering population. Swamp Milkweed is not invasive as the Common Milkweed [Herbe à coton] is. With Jim’s permission, I’m adding his comments to some of the recent postings, and what he is doing to help. Quoting Jim Wilson below:

“As you know, I have a special interest in Monarch butterflies and have been following the trend in numbers in recent years closely. This year's estimate of the wintering population in Mexico was great news, but we (the collective "we" in Canada, the US and Mexico) still have a very long way to go.

One of the main planks in the joint recovery plan of the three countries is a concentrated effort to plant more milkweed in the US and Canada. Mexico is too arid to grow much down there. A few species of milkweed are the only food plants that Monarch caterpillars can feed on and grow to become adult butterflies.

I have been harvesting the seeds of Swamp Milkweed for the past two years and this winter have thousands of seeds that I've been getting into the hands of interested individuals. I package them with simple instructions for cold storage in the fridge and then planting in the spring and I still have plenty of seed left. Swamp Milkweed has a fibrous root system unlike that of Common Milkweed, and is considered non-invasive to gardens or other areas of a property. It is a food plant for Monarch caterpillars and is a perennial plant.

Halifax Seed in Saint John has kindly offered to make my seed packets available to the public for a modest donation that will go to the Saint John Naturalists' Club to be put toward its annual Monarch fall tagging program.

If any naturalists are interested, I can make seeds available. They need to go into a fridge for 4-6 weeks before planting but there is still enough time. The only problem Is getting them to people, as mailing out individual packets gets expensive very quickly, so we'd have to figure out a way to overcome that.

Best regards,

Jim Wilson”

Some Swamp Milkweed seedlings were available at last year’s at last year’s Nature New Brunswick festival of nature in Sackville. I planted some and transplanted tubers of Common Milkweed as well. At least, one female Monarch visited the 'fledgling' plants but I did not find any caterpillars. There will probably be more information to pass on in coming weeks on the Swamp Milkweed seed planting effort.

** Dave Christie heard a PINE GROSBEAK [Durbec des sapins] calling on Sunday morning, near his Mary's Point home, and saw it land in a spruce tree for a few minutes before it moved off. It’s only the third time he has seen this species in his area this winter.

** Kevin Renton reports that the first RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS [Carouge à épaulettes] arrived in their Stilesville feeder yard [N of Moncton] on Sunday.

** Brian Stone was able to get photos of a limited display of NORTHERN LIGHTS (Aurora borealis) from his Mountain Road backyard on Sunday night, about 10 p.m. Brian monitors the Aurora Watch website and is always ready for the possibility of seeing it in New Brunswick on an appropriately clear night. He got it this time.

** Clarence Cormier had the first EASTERN CHIPMUNK [Suisse] appear in his [Grande-Digue] yard on Sunday, a week earlier than any of his past journal entries. He also noted AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle d'Amérique] on the ground, vigorously flipping over leaves to suggest that the ground may be warm enough to forage for ground insects or other invertebrates.

** I wondered yesterday whether the RING-NECKED DUCKS [Fuligule à collier] we saw in Saint John were overwintering birds or early arrivals. Joanne Savage responds that she saw Ring-necks at the same Indiantown location on February 19, over two weeks ago, so the jury is out. [Transcriber’s note: This species was also seen on the Saint John Christmas Bird Count, Dec. 27. I’m not sure exactly where those ones were seen, but this is not the first year that there have been winter Ring-necks at and upriver from Indiantown.]

** Pat and I made a short trip to the Sackville Waterfowl Park and Tantramar Marsh on Sunday afternoon that was surprisingly productive for a short visit. There were many ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS [Buse pattue] from the Anderson Marsh Road and some from the High Marsh Road. It surely has been a banner year for this species. We saw no RED-TAILED HAWKS [Buse à queue rousse], no NORTHERN HARRIERS [Busard Saint-Martin], many, many RING-NECKED PHEASANTS [Faisan de Colchide], and a few BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche], but one distant eagle had us questioning the possibility of it being a GOLDEN EAGLE [Aigle royal]. Dave Christie and Todd Watts have verified the photos as indeed a subadult Golden Eagle. This bird was on a distant pylon, before coming to the corral area. The distance only allowed documentary photos. I hope the group of birders who stopped to see this bird will get this to know they really did see the Golden Eagle which at the time we were all uncertain of until photos could be enlarged on a computer screen.

We also saw a distant COYOTE [Coyote] which is the first I’ve ever seen on the Tantramar Marsh, but many others have seen them there. It made a very swift retreat.

The Sackville Waterfowl Park board walks were very beautiful on Sunday but MALLARDS [Canard colvert] were the only duck seen in the limited open water. It will be bursting into activity soon. Pat’s dog Dude spotted a vole to put him into ecstatic hunting mode. The vole was not on a leach as Dude was so the vole easily continued on its mission!

We also got to see and photograph a nice sun pillar as we entered Moncton on return.

Some messages were cut off today which will run tomorrow.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier