Nature Moncton Nature News: May 1 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, May 1, 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)

** Jamie and Karen Burris came across some goose action along the Coverdale River on Sunday that included a SNOW GOOSE [Oie des neiges]. Its chest seemed to have rusty stains suggesting that it had spent some time in the silt banks of the Petitcodiac River. Jamie got some excellent flight photos. Jamie also had the first visit of a CHIPPING SPARROW [Bruant familier] to his Riverview yard on Sunday to nicely show its sparrow identification features: the dark metallic beak, rich rusty, unstreaked crown and the dark eye-line extending right to the bill.

** Starting at noon, Ron Steeves spent 4 hours at the New Horton churchyard to watch for migration on Sunday. Ron felt conditions were good but reports that all they saw that he felt were in migration were one OSPREY [Balbuzard pêcheur], 6 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS [Petite Buse], and an unidentified raptor. However, he tallied seven raptor species he felt were locals, including RED-TAILED HAWK [Buse à queue rousse], BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche], SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun], TURKEY VULTURE [Urubu à tête rouge], NORTHERN HARRIERS [Busard Saint-Martin], NORTHERN GOSHAWK [Autour des palombes], and AMERICAN KESTREL [Crécerelle d’Amérique].

At least eight TREE SWALLOWS [Hirondelle bicolore] were contesting ownership of the nest box on the pole across from the church. For seabirds, a flock of 10 CORMORANTS [cormorans sp.] and one loon, suspected to be a COMMON LOON [Plongeon huard], passed by.

** Aldo Dorio saw some GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier] on Sunday at Hay Island. He got a photo of one capturing what appears to be a fish. He also got some nice views of a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET [Roitelet à couronne rubis] that show identification features, such as the oblong eye-ring, the small bill, the red crown of the male and vivid yellow streaking on the wing and tail.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton