Nature Moncton Nature News: April 9 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, updated for April 9, 2017 (Sunday)

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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)

** We have another great report from Ron Steeves about migration at Cape Enrage on Saturday morning. Ron describes it as a crazy day. It was cold, with extreme wind and rough seas. Birds were relatively hard to see passing the cape, rapidly riding the strong winds east. Ron comments that he likely missed hundreds of birds.

The recorded list follows:

8193 COMMON EIDER [Eider à duvet]. It was the best day so far, but there were still hundreds rafting at Waterside that didn’t go past the starting line to count.

6761 dark-winged scoters in total, with an estimated 5-10% SURF SCOTERS [Macreuse à front blanc] in it, the remainder being BLACK SCOTERS [Macreuse noire]. Hundreds, if not thousands were still rafting and not counted.

74 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS [Macreuse brune], 13 BRANT [Bernache cravant], 21 GREAT CORMORANTS [Grand Cormoran], 14 LONG-TAILED DUCKS [Harelde kakawi].

16 COMMON LOONS [Plongeon huard], 563 RED-THROATED LOONS [Plongeon catmarin]. These birds are usually a long distance off and difficult to spot.

There were a few other common species like AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS [Canard noir], RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS [Harle huppé], etc., for a total of 15,576 birds tallied on Saturday.

Thanks again, Ron, for holding the fort there.

** Roger LeBlanc and Alain Clavette were out with a group on Saturday and were able to locate 2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS [Goéland brun] in the city, near at hand. The first was with a small group of gulls in the area of the Université de Moncton baseball diamond by the soccer field there. The other was located in the pond behind the snow dump off Crowley Farm Road. This pond can actually be seen from Wheeler Boulevard. I am assuming these were adult birds, as Roger did not indicate otherwise. It’s a great time to be checking gull flocks for Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Gilles Belliveau recently saw a very significant number at Carleton Park in Fredericton, and there have been several reports elsewhere in the Maritimes.

The group also dropped by the Cap-Brûlé lagoon area. Roger reports that there seemed to be fewer ducks there than when he had visited last week, but they were able to locate the male EURASIAN WIGEON [Canard siffleur] in a pond in the marsh; it was by itself.

** Jim Wilson leaves some interesting comments on the flock of birds Georges Brun noted and were mentioned in yesterday’s edition. Jim leans towards those birds being COMMON EIDERS [Eider à duvet], as the flock shape is familiar for eiders flying high in the sky, and the closer images of the bodies of many of the birds appear to be much darker than the wings, which would be the case with male Common Eiders, when viewed from the rear. I’m re-attaching those photos today, for a second perusal after these comments.

** Georges Brun noted a COMMON EIDER [Eider à duvet] on the water of the Petitcodiac River on Saturday. At least one dropped down in passing. Georges also warns about the bank slumping at the moment, due to the salt content of the dark mud, especially near the Gunningsville Bridge. Georges mentions that there were huge flocks of GULLS on the Riverview Marsh ponds on Friday. Also, he noted the two PEREGRINE FALCONS [Faucon pèlerin]. One was in the nest box and the other in the big “A” logo at Assumption Place.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton