Nature Moncton Nature News: May 18 2016

**Paul Langelaan reports a neighbor in Second North River had an INDIGO BUNTING to her feeder yard on Tuesday. Paul comments this is the third year in a row an indigo bunting has been in the neighbourhood. An early morning Wednesday report from Dave Christie, he also has a bright male indigo bunting in his Mary's Pt. yard this morning.

**Dave Miller reports there was a REDHEAD DUCK the Salisbury Lagoon directly behind the trailer park on Government Rd. on Tuesday. Interesting to note how many of this species are popping up. The pair also continues to be present in the Newcastle lagoon on Tuesday afternoon with another photo of the contented pair there attached.

Dave also encountered OVENBIRDS singing in the Taylor Rd area near Salisbury.

**Gabriel Gallant said it was warbler mania at that perennial hotspot, Bell Marsh on Tuesday with 6 species seen in a relatively short time to include PALM, WILSON'S, AMERICAN REDSTART, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER and YELLOW WARBLER. Also seen was BALTIMORE ORIOLE and EASTERN KINGBIRD. There were 100+ TREE SWALLOWS, many RED-WINGED blackbirds, along with vocalizing SWAMP sparrows and SORA rails. Gabriel did not get photo ops except for the eastern kingbird.

**Lois Budd had their first GRAY CATBIRD arrive to their near Salisbury feeder yard on Monday. Lois says there have been several bully BLUE JAYS but they surely met their match when the CATBIRD arrived, as some of Lois's photos show. Lois comments no matter how big a bully you are there is always someone to bring you down a peg or two. Wise words.

** Gordon Rattray visited the White-Rock recreation area in Hillsborough on Tuesday to find a single BLACK-THROATED GREEN warbler and get a photo. He also heard several OVENBIRDS vocalizing in the area and some OSTRICH FERN FIDDLEHEADS were also emerging.

**Dave Christie had an influx of 22 BLUEJAYS to his Mary's Pt. yard on Tuesday where he has been having 2 recently. This would indicate the return of the sector of the BLUEJAY troupe that does head south for the winter.

Dave also had 7 sparrow species in his yard on Tuesday. The one to really create that special number was a LINCOLN'S sparrow.

Dave reports Doris Hatt in Alma had an adult male SCARLET TANAGER to her feeder area on Monday and Tuesday as well as 3 BALTIMORE ORIOLES.

**John Inman had a warbler selection of PARULA, YELLOW, BLACK-THROATED BLUE, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, BLACKBURNIAN, BLACK-AND-WHITE, AMERICAN REDSTART, WILSON'S and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT warblers around his 225 Mary's Pt. Rd home on Tuesday.

**ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS are rolling right in on schedule. Stella Leblanc got a photo of a male visiting her Bouctouche feeder yard on Tuesday. They have also arrive at our camp feeders in Silliker's near Miramichi.

**Vicki Daley also had a rose-breasted grosbeak male arrive to her feeder yard in Brookside just outside Amherst on Tuesday to get another nice photo of these sharply dressed dudes. We need a photo of the more conservatively dressed female now.

**It's always humbling to clearly hear a warbler call and not having heard it since last spring make one start dredging the memory bank. I had that happen on Tuesday with a warbler high in a tree, back-lit and hard to get binoculars on. The zoom camera came to the rescue to realize it was a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH at full chorus. I played the song when back on the porch to check it to find the bird suddenly came to see who was interloping.

** Ray Gauvin's neighbor, Gilles Leger, heard that window thump to check it out to find an AMERICAN KESTREL hit the window and was fortunately only temporarily detained, however it remained long enough for a very closeup photo to show the sheer beauty of this magnificent raptor at a range we rarely get to see.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton