Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 27 2016

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE - December 27, 2016 (Tuesday)

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Edited by : Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Transcript by : Louise Richard richlou@nbnet.nb.ca

Info Line # : 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Georges Brun had a pleasant experience with GRAY JAYS [Mésangeai du Canada] on Monday, which he comments he has not seen in a long while. He was visiting a friend in the Cocagne area who has 4 Gray Jays that are relatively tame that he is able to put bread in his hand and they land on his fingers to grab and fly off with the bounty. The Gray Jay has been nominated as Canada’s national bird symbol but the appropriate legislation to make that happen is yet to happen.

** Aldo Dorio found 4 PINE GROSBEAKS [Durbec des sapins] and 12 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal] all foraging on ground dropped Crab Apples near the Neguac Wharf on Monday. The Pine Grosbeaks were no doubt enjoying the seeds of the fruit leaving the pulp for the Bohemian Waxwings.

** Brian Stone and I made a sleuthing mission in the sunshine of Monday: our first stop was to Magnetic Hill where Pine Grosbeaks were found by Gilles Bourque on the Christmas Bird Count. There was still approximately a dozen there snapping off the clinging RED ASH seedlings. There’s lots for them there so they should stay there for a while. The majority of the group were adult male birds which seems very different from the flock gender blends of last winter. We proceeded to Johnson Mills-Rockport area to see the many BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal] foraging there that Louise Nichols had reported last week. There were many Bohemian Waxwings seen with a blend of AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle d’Amérique] but no Cedar Waxwings were noted. We thought we had found a few White-Winged Crossbills but they were at a great distance at the summit of a tall conifer tree. When checking the fully zoomed photos at home, we realized they were actually RED CROSSBILLS [Bec-croisé des sapins] and were foraging on the buds of the twigs, not cones. Several RED-TAILED HAWKS [Buse à queue rousse] were seen while travelling which seems to be expected this year. We also encountered a young of the year WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie]. Note it has taken on the thick grey coat of winter compared to the brown of summer. Brian also spotted FALLSTREAK CLOUD formations that he had only seen once before. He spotted 2 of them over the day and the “url” below explains more about this cloud formation to encourage us to glance up to enjoy the cloudscape of the different cloud formations.

https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/fallstreak-holes-%E2%80%93-a-new-understanding/

**Earlier in the day, I came across 3 basketball sized leaf SUMMER NESTS of grey squirrels within the city, which are situated very high near the summit of tall deciduous trees. They are now very obvious with the leaves off.

** Earlier in the week, 4 of us came across a dark coloured FOX on the Tantramar Marsh. I assumed this to be a hybrid animal between a farm-ranched escapee and a wild red fox. On consulting with Ron Steeves who has a lot of experience with foxes, he points out, in his opinion, this fox is a wild fox and this particular fox is quite unusual for sure. Ron suggests maybe 1% of the wild population would be a fair estimate. Ron comments he has only seen 4 over the years that he has personally seen or has seen someone has trapped. Ron points out why he feels this is a truly wild fox, and I’m going to paraphrase his reasons below. This all means this would be a rare melanistic animal. A few photos are re-attached today. The ranch silver fox indeed was developed from wild black foxes found in the wild.

From Ron

It is not that uncommon for wild foxes to be of this color combination as your photo shows.

I believe this fox is mostly of wild origin although it may have farmed fox away back generations ago but I doubt it.

Here is what I think I see in this photo that makes me lean to the wild side.

-the fur is very short and looks "wirey" and "coarse"

-the leg bones look small and long

-the gray on the face and hips has no silver in it only a gray (maybe it is just the lighting that makes it appear this way)

-the neck and shoulders seem to be very black

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton