Nature Moncton Nature News: March 23 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, March 23, 2017 ( Thursday )

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: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** Many thanks to Beth MacDonald from the Canadian Wildlife Service for coming to Nature Moncton on Tuesday evening. Beth went over their recent investigation of WHIMBRELS [Courlis corlieu] in blueberry fields along the Acadian Peninsula that provided many insights into the life of this bird species such as where they spend their time, what they feed on, and their remarkable migration which we are just beginning to learn about thanks to new technologies. Fortunately their impact on the blueberry crop appears to be minimal, but the research is ongoing. They were able to track the migration map of the Whimbrels that they were able to equip with monitoring devices. The URL showing that route is http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=1201&dyn=1490222813

** Georges Brun got more nice action shots of a female NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin] capturing prey on the marsh near the bend of the Petitcodiac River on Sunday. Note the banded, open tail pattern and the signature white rump in the flight shot from the rear. He also got a pattern in the snow of a bird taking prey. This is called a "sitzmark" in the track trail guides.

** An interesting note from Rheal Vienneau who is closely following the MONARCH BUTTERFLY [Monarque] migration out of Mexico at the moment. He reports that the population east of the Rocky Mountains are leaving the Mexico wintering grounds at the moment and that the conditions in the southern U.S. are favorable for milkweed growth and egg deposition for them. This augurs well so far for Monarch butterflies here in the Maritimes, hopefully by early July.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton