Nature Moncton Nature News: June 9 2016

** Elaine Gallant had a very special visitor to her Parlee Beach yard on Wednesday, when a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER [Pic à tête rouge] arrived. Elaine missed it herself, as she was at work, but her husband Pat saw it clearly at 8:10 am and 12:10 pm. Elaine has had Red-bellied Woodpeckers before, but this is the first time for a Red-headed Woodpecker. I don't have Elaine's civic address but her phone number is 532-8662. She is at work today, and lamenting that with the possibility of a rarity returning to her yard, but will keep us updated after today.

** John Inman reports he did not see the YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD [Carouge à tête jaune] in his 225 Mary's Point Rd. yard in Harvey on Wednesday, however that does not mean of course that it is not still in the area and so he will be on watch for it to resurface.

** Gordon Rattray took a trip down to Harvey on Wednesday to look for the Yellow-headed Blackbird, but no luck. He continued to Lars Larson Marsh and observed two male BLUE-WINGED TEALS [Sarcelle à ailes bleues] and one male GREEN-WINGED TEAL [Sarcelle d'hiver]. A passing car flushed seven male WOOD DUCKS [Canard branchu]. He also saw two AMERICAN WIGEON [Canard d'Amérique] males, and a pair of NORTHERN SHOVELERS [Canard souchet].

He stopped at a bog at Dennison Beach and found the THREE-LEAFED SOLOMON'S SEAL blooming, and also PITCHER PLANTS that were beginning to develop. He came across the Harvey Dam, and up the dikes there were lots of BOBOLINKS [Goglu des prés] all along the dike, as well as many SONG SPARROWS [Bruant chanteur] and SAVANNAH SPARROWS [Bruant des prés] along with a pair of NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROWS [Bruant de Nelson] .Nice to have a photo of Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, they appear to be just arriving so we should expect to hear their unique vocalization in appropriate marsh habitat soon.

Also nice to see a photo of a female Bobolink in her much more conservatively dressed plumage, compared to her mate. The females are very secretive and hard to get photos of. A MERLIN [Faucon émerillon] was spotted near the Harvey dam in a snag tree.

** Louise Nichols visited the White Birch Impoundment area near Sackville on Wednesday. She accessed it from the Aboujagane Rd., following the dike, to come across a whole new section that she had not seen before. Louise comments she is always amazed by how much interesting habitat there is in that area. She saw BLACK TERNS [Guifette noire] flying into that impoundment which is basically behind the one where she noted them previously. She was also able to see eight Terns flying and vocalizing. Flying birds are very difficult to capture in a photo, but Louise did get one documentary picture.

She also saw two AMERICAN BITTERNS [Butor d'Amérique] and a few BOBOLINKS [Goglu des prés] flying and calling in a nearby field. There were also lots of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS [Carouge à épaulettes] and expected waterfowl, especially WOOD DUCKS [Canard branchu] and GREEN-WINGED TEALS [Sarcelle d'hiver].

** John Massey got a photo of a BULLFROG [Ouaouaron], and a Bullfrog tadpole, on Monday at the Tower Rd. reservoir in Turtle Creek. Note the tadpole is just starting to have the rear legs emerge. He also came across a group of CANADIAN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL [Papillon tigré du Canada] butterflies in a feeding group.

** Ray Gauvin was photographing a Rhododendron that was starting to bloom and did not note until he put it on his computer that an image of a child's face was showing in the bloom form.You may have to look for a moment but it is there.

Ray comments he often drives by the osprey nest on the Aboujagane Road and just can't resist a photo. nelson@nb.sympatico.ca