Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 30 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January 30, 2017 (Monday)

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

Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com

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

** Mac Wilmot has a resident spider living outside in the cold temperatures, on the south side of his home, with a few unidentified victims stored nearby. Mac’s grandson, Silas, found one exactly the same on an ice surface earlier. The spider appears to be the same species that Verna Poirier submitted earlier, which was identified as the LONG-JAWED ORB-WEAVER [] so I’m thinking that Mac and Silas found the same species. It must be a hardy spider to be out and active at present temperatures.

** Judy and Sterling Marsh put some of their gull-workshop pointers to the test along the coast on Sunday and got a side by side head photo of an adult GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL [Goéland marin], our only winter gull with a clean white head, and a first-winter ICELAND GULL [Goéland arctique] showing its completely black bill and pale cinnamon-blush body. Sterling also shares a few characteristic COMMON RAVEN [Grand Corbeau] poses that show the massive beak compared to that of a Crow, and rough neck area.

** Fred Richards is already building SWALLOW BOXES for the Nature Moncton nest-box project. There is a nice list of landlords-in-waiting, but some boxes are still unreserved. The first 50 are free of charge. Simply respond to this e-mail if you’d like to reserve some or add to what you’ve already reserved.

** It surely is a great winter so far for WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie] survival. As I’m sure many others have, I have frequently seen groups of deer out in fields. I usually see them standing out in the open, so was a bit surprised on Sunday to note a group of 8 in a field, 7 of which were lying down.

** As it’s not a busy day with reports, I’m attaching a humorous photo that Brian Stone captured at the recent gull workshop; it may make for a few chuckles, as it appears that one of the participants is being disciplined for not completing his homework, to the delight of other participants. Always nice to get a chance to laugh at ourselves!

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton