Nature Moncton Nature News: March 4 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Mar. 4, 2018 (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)

** Shawn Cormier leaves a photo of a CEDAR WAXWING [Jaseur d'Amérique] he photographed in the Sackville Waterfowl Park on Feb. 25. It has not been a notable waxwing winter in New Brunswick this year, as it has been the past few years.

** The Nature Moncton GULL FIELD TRIP went off on Saturday afternoon, with lots of cooperative gulls, as expected. Two GLAUCOUS GULLS [Goéland bourgmestre] were located among the group. One appears to be a second-cycle bird due to the yellow eye, while the other appears to be a first-cycle bird due to the still dark eye. Glaucous Gull has the black bill tip in both first and second cycles. Glaucous Gull shows a shorter primary projection than ICELAND GULL [Goéland arctique] that is to say that the folded wing extends barely beyond the tail tip while the similar Iceland Gull’s folded wing extends nicely beyond the tail tip. The Glaucous is also larger, notably larger than the Iceland Gull, and its bill is larger and more ‘macho’ in appearance. The Glaucous Gull is also much less common here than the Iceland Gull in winter. There were a number of Iceland Gulls, many of them were in their first cycle showing an all black bill. They would have a black-tipped bill in the second winter. Some adult Iceland Gulls were in the mix as well.

HERRING GULLS [Goéland argenté] were the most prevalent gull species, followed by GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL [Goéland marin]. One photo shows some Iceland Gulls beside the larger Herring Gull, which in turn is by the larger still Great Black-backed, with two pointed out in their first-cycle plumage. Some flight shots show the nearly half dark underwing of the Great Black-backed Gull, while the Herring Gull would have black wing tips, which makes them easy to separate when flying over.

The Glaucous and Iceland Gulls only spend their winters with us and will head north to the breeding grounds in late March and April, whereas RING-BILLED GULLS [Goéland à bec cerclé] will start moving back, as the vast majority of that species moves southerly for the winter. No LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS [Goéland brun] were spotted. Early spring should bring some of that species back in low numbers.

** I am including a lot of Gordon Rattray’s and Brian Stone’s excellent gull photos that show many of these differential features. Take a moment to look carefully and cement these features in our minds. It makes gull identification a lot easier.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton