Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 22 2016

** Mike Britton got two great photos of a BELTED KINGFISHER [Martin-pêcheur d'Amérique], both a side and frontal view. The orange-red band on the chest indicates that it is a female. This is usually a very hard species to cooperate for a photo.

** Doreen Rossiter leaves some observations from her Alma yard. She comments there is not much bird action as yet, but still a RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD [Colibri à gorge rubis] was present on Wednesday. A GRAY SQUIRREL [Ecureuil gris] arrived to her feeder yard which was a surprise as it is only the third she has seen in Alma in the thirty three years she has lived there. Doreen comments a few nights ago one window of their home was covered with moths which all seemed to be the same species. She noticed the Garden Phlox, which was just below that window, was covered with them and seemed tobeall the same species. Would sound like moths on one of their important pollination missions while night foraging.

** Jamie and Karen Burris paid a visit to the Hillsborough Wetlands Park on Wednesday to get some great nature photos. Two photos of the BANDED ARGIOPE, Argiope trifasciata, actually show the webbing being sent out of the abdomen as it wraps up its prey. A lone AMERICAN WIGEON [Canard d'Amérique], and one of two GREAT BLUE HERONS [Grand Héron] cooperated nicely as did a passing MUSKRAT [Rat musqué] on its mission. A photo of two GREEN-WINGED TEALS [Sarcelle d'hiver] landing shows both blue and green on their wings, but Jamie comments that it is just the angle of the photo that produced that.

** Marguerite Winsor got a photo of a SPRING PEEPER [Rainette crucifère] that attached to her front door on Tuesday evening at 10 pm. Note the suction cup tips of the digits that easily allow it to attach to objects. The Spring Peeper may be interested in water in the early Spring, but the rest of the year it is a landlubber.

** Aldo Dorio shares a photo of CANADA GEESE [Bernaches du Canada], very much now in flocking mode, in Tabusintac. It's time to be checking those flocks for interesting tag alongs. Aldo also got a close up photo of a BALD-FACED HORNET, probably as close as one wants to get to this aggressive wasp at this time of year.

** Brian Stone's COMMON EASTERN BUMBLEBEE colony continues to make unintentional forays into his home from a nest under the foundation. He photographed two together on Wednesday suspecting the larger one may be a queen, or potential one, and the smaller one may be a drone or worker. Brian also got a photo of a colorful fly that BugGuide has identified as a female SNIPE FLY, which is a predatory fly.

** I found an interesting bird perched on a utility wire on Route 11 to Miramichi on Wednesday so I quickly did a turn back for a closer look. It was a bit distant to get a sure observation but the zoom camera did its thing to reveal that it was a quite large stick wedged into the wires. As it was photographed it had to be named, so I am identifying it as a STICK BIRD . I assume many birders may want to get to see this bird and get it on their New Brunswick list, but I will not reveal its location for fear of traffic jams on a busy highway. However I assume dyed-in-the-wool birders could go to the EXIF data on the photo to get the GPS readings.

I recall a few other similar scenarios to laugh at ourselves. I was birding with Ron Steeves one day and a bird in a ditch was being frustrating to him so he suggested to identify it as a Ditch Bird. Another time with Brian Dalzell when we were wondering about a white bird sitting on water to realize it was a Javex bottle floating, it got named Javex Bird. I suspect there are many more similar scenarios out there.

( Transcriber's note ... I once spent 15 minutes sneaking up on a suspected pheasant with my camera to find that it was just a coincidentally shaped dark plastic bag sitting on the side of the trail I was walking on. I didn't name it at the time but would be happy to receive suggestions as to what it should be called. "Faux Pheasant" has a nice ring to it. )

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca