Nature Moncton Nature News: April 15 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Apr. 15, 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)

** John Massey was certainly in the right place at the right time with a camera to capture a video of an AMERICAN WOODCOCK [Bécasse d'Amérique] foraging on Saturday. Note its technique of feeling the ground with its feet and adjusting its weight to locate prey. This is an outstanding video catch; check it out at the attached link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fobln20r3zmmhyh/MVI_9463.MOV?dl=0

** Ron Steeves made a 6-hour vigil at Cape Enrage on Saturday, monitoring seabird migration. The weather was more pleasant than during Ron’s last three migration monitoring efforts, with mostly cloudy sky, cool with slight winds to calm. Although it was calm, the seabirds seemed to stay a long way offshore as they moved east up the bay. This seemed unusual and made it fairly difficult even to spot them. Ron’s estimated tallies were 236 COMMON EIDERS [Eider à duvet], 6431 SCOTERS [macreuses spp.], in which he spotted only 2 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS [Macreuse brune] all day and estimated a sprinkling of SURF SCOTERS [Macreuse à front blanc] of probably less than 10% of the scoter tally. Other species seen were LONG-TAILED DUCK [Harelde kakawi], RED-BREASTED MERGANSER [Harle huppé], RED-THROATED LOON [Plongeon catmarin], 3 CANADA GEESE [Bernache du Canada], SCAUP [fuligule sp.], a GLAUCOUS GULL [Goéland bourgmestre], and 2 NORTHERN GANNETS [Fou de Bassan], which Ron notes you usually don’t see there.

He had an eagle go by that he sure would like to have another look at, as he suspected it was a GOLDEN EAGLE [Aigle royal].

There were hundreds, if not thousands of sea ducks that were staging in Waterside bay that were not included in his count as they didn’t pass his imaginary starting line that has to be crossed to be counted, that is to say the lighthouse at Cape Enrage.

Ron spent one hour at the New Horton church. He saw several raptors that he suspected were locals, like 4 BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche], a NORTHERN GOSHAWK [Autour des palombes], AMERICAN KESTREL [Crécerelle d'Amérique] and NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin]. The only raptor that he thought might be migrating was a MERLIN [Faucon émerillon].

A treat of the day was a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] and a SNOWSHOE HARE [L] still white, and a beautiful dark-coloured COYOTE [] in a field at the old Beck farm on the Cape Enrage Road.

** Gordon Rattray made a run to the Scoudouc area to try for the SANDHILL CRANE [Grue du Canada] on Saturday, but could not locate it. A visit to the Pointe-du-Chêne wharf gave some excellent photos despite the strong winds, choppy water and cold. BLACK SCOTERS [Macreuse à bec jaune] were in large numbers there, with a few SURF SCOTERS [Macreuse à front blanc] mixed in. Farther offshore, several large flocks of SCAUP [fuligule sp.] went by. On the backside of the wharf, 4 male RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS [Harle huppé] were trying to gain the attention of one female. The show went on for some time until an extended dive and on surfacing a decision seemed to have been confirmed under water and Gordon photographed one contented pair. A COMMON MERGANSER [Grand Harle] photo of both genders was taken earlier in the day at Gray Brook Marsh in Hillsborough.

** Doreen Rossiter reports that she saw her first EASTERN PHOEBE [Moucherolle phébi] of the season, fly-catching around the windows of her Alma home on Saturday. The tail-bobbing Eastern Phoebe is normally the first flycatcher to join us. Doreen had 3 brightly plumaged WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS [Bruant à gorge blanche] arrive to join the one that had overwintered with her. She also says that she has been watching the blackbird flocks for BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS [Vacher à tête brune] and has failed to see any. However, she did have a male and female pair stop by a few days ago, as a duo alone and exhibiting courtship behaviour. She notes that this is not how she usually sees her first cowbird visitors.

** Daryl Doucette reports spotting a TURKEY VULTURE [Urubu à tête roug] in the Shediac Cape area on Saturday. They don’t seem to be in that area with regularity. This may be one expanding territory, or passing through in migration.

** Brian Stone had a male RING-NECKED PHEASANT [Faisan de Colchide] come into his Moncton yard on Saturday with its developing harem. He seems impressed with his hens, but they don’t seem quite as impressed and are simply going about their day.

** A reminder of Tuesday night’s Nature Moncton meeting that was outlined in yesterday’s edition, and will be repeated tomorrow.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton