Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 16 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January 16, 2017 (Monday)

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor nelson@nb.sympatico.ca Please advise if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com

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

Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com

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

** Tomorrow night's Nature Moncton meeting is repeated at the end of this message. Also a bird-feeder tour is planned for February 25, and is added below as a request for folks to add their names to the list of sites to be briefly visited that day, for sharing more ideas to attract our feathered friends.

"Annual Bird Feeder Tour". Once again the Nature Moncton Activities Committee is in the process of organizing our, now annual, bird feeder tour. Date: February 18, 2017. Time: Departing 9 am from the Coliseum parking lot. This is to organize car pools.
Once again the Renton's have graciously offered to provide breakfast while we observe their many birds. The tour will conclude at the Poirier's. If you have been following the Info-line and/or attended Nelson's recent workshop you will not want to miss this opportunity to see the birds he attracts to his backyard.
Members who would like to have the tour stop by and see your birds please contact me at: susanatkinson29@gmail.com

Further details to follow closer to the date.

** A message has been left that the caller has the Sibley Guide to Birds, 545 pages, in new condition, to sell for $15. Call 530-0990, after 5 p.m. on weekdays, any time of weekends.

** Brian Stone and I joined a field trip with the Halifax Naturalists and Nova Scotia Bird Society on Saturday. It was a very interesting day to check some of the bird highlights showing up there. Some of the highlights for us was to see the DOVEKIES [Mergule nain] that seem to be stay in a cove at Eastern Passage, an adult BLACK-HEADED GULL [Mouette rieuse], a first-winter LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL [Goéland brun], and an AMERICAN COOT [Foulque d'Amérique] at Sullivan’s Pond in Dartmouth, PURPLE SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau violet] at Point Pleasant Park, a male RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER [Pic à ventre roux] that is one of a pair that are permanent breeding residents in a group of deciduous trees by St. Mary’s University, and a visit to the yard of Suzann Myers, who has BALTIMORE ORIOLES [Oriole de Baltimore] overwinter in her yard every winter, and has learned to very adequately meet their winter needs. There is a PEREGRINE FALCON [Faucon pèlerin] that uses the signage at the top of the tall Manulife building as a hunting perch in similar fashion to ones that use Assomption LIfe building in Moncton. It was not there when we visited but evidence of leftover meals was obvious.

** On our return on Sunday through the Tantrmar Marsh, we spotted a COMMON RAVEN [Grand Corbeau] chasing a brown raptor very obviously smaller than the raven. I t vey much suggested a SHORT-EARED OWL [Hibou des marais] but confirmation was not possible. It was seen along the Coles Island Road near the former CBC structures, a popular Short-eared Owl area in summer.

** Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Nature Moncton’s meeting night in the Mapleton Park Rotary Lodge at 7 p.m. for the annual members’ night. Nature Moncton is a group of diverse interests and skills, and it’s a great time to share short 15 to 20 minute vignettes of activities in the past year, of special events and any nature-related topic. President Susan is lining up the evening. Touch base with her at susand@nbnet.nb.ca if you have something to share with the group, or simply respond to this message.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton