Nature Moncton Nature News: April 16 2016

**Jamie and Karen Burris came across a BEAVER [Castor] pond with lodge and dam in Dawson Settlement woods recently, to be surprised by a very busy Beaver at mid-day. They were hiding in the bushes but it still sensed their presence by whipping its tail on the water to warn its kin of potential danger.

**Aldo Dorio got some excellent photos of three HARLEQUIN DUCKS [Arlequin plongeur] off Hay Island on Friday. Five photos are shown that show the adult male, the adult female, and a first-winter male.

**Lisa Morris also found COLTSFOOT [Tussilage, Pas-d'âne] trying to bloom in Centennial Park recently, with one brave soul more fully out. This plant does close up at nights and on very cloudy days. Lisa also is noting WAXWINGS [Jaseur] gleaning bits of berries and fruits that dropped from trees in yards in Moncton’s West End recently. They sure are having no searching problems in our West End yard now, working on the third 20-lb bag of cull apples. I’ve noticed that the apples have to be cut in quarters, as if the halves get turned over they have a hard job turning them back again.

**The WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW [Bruant à couronne blanche] that we have hosted at our Moncton feeder for the winter is finally starting to show a change to breeding plumage which I had expected to see before now. The change is not complete yet, but the light-brown side headbands are showing the change to white, with more head plumage to change yet. We hope it stays so we can watch this happen.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton