Nature Moncton Nature News: Nov 21 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, November 21, 2018 ( Wednesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com.

Transcript by: Judy Marsh marshj@nbnet.nb.ca

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

** The Nature Moncton Annual meeting went ahead on Tuesday night with some new positions being filled. Gordon Rattray was elected President and Dave Christie will take on the position of Past President. The positions of Vice-president and Secretary are vacant at the moment. If anyone would be interested in considering these positions contact President Gordon Rattray at gordonr@nbnet.nb.ca who I am sure would be very pleased to hear from volunteers.

**A very sincere thank you to Susan Atkinson who so faithfully served as President the past years as well as Kat Atkinson who built up the web site as web master and will be handing over that position over the next weeks. Kat also acted as Secretary and was instrumental in setting up audio-visual equipment. They played a big role for Nature Moncton. Kat was very instrumental in designing the blog spot which we are all very appreciative of.

**It was very unfortunate that the presentation from Elaine Aucoin had to be weather postponed but will be rescheduled at a later date this season. Also a big thank you goes to the efforts of Dale Gaskin in arranging for the big load of New Brunswick grown black oil sunflower seeds to get distributed again this year. There are some very busy bird feeder yards right now that will appreciate his efforts.

**A BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER

[Pic à dos noir] is always a treat. Rick Elliot

 and Barb Carlew had one visit their Marsh

 Road property in Waterside on Tuesday and

 lucky enough to capture a photo. They

 comment they are also enjoying the fallout

 of sparrows saying if they get one Fox

 Sparrow for a day, they feel lucky. This year

 they have had four Fox Sparrows for the

 past five days along with American Tree

 Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows,Song

 Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos.

**Georges Brun has been seeing a dark morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK [Buse pattue] hover hunting on the Riverview marsh since the last storm and got documentary photos of it nicely showing the markings. It tends to roost a few hundred feet from the Trans-Aqua outlet impoundment. We often don't see many raptors working this marsh but Georges is also seeing two NORTHERN HARRIER [Busard Saint-Martin] and a few SHORT-EARED OWLS [Hibou des marai were there last winter. Maybe the vole population is increasing there. An area to watch for sure so close at hand.

**Jamie Burris's flock of ten EVENING GROSBEAK [Gros-bec errant] on Monday swelled to a surprising 32 on Tuesday. There seems to be a near fallout of this very welcomed species. Jamie got an interesting image of an EVENING GROSBEAK [Gros-bec errant] in flight to show more of this birds striking plumage and markings. Jamie's CHIPPING SPARROW [Bruant familier] was still present on Tuesday but the WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS [Bruant à gorge blanche] were no show. As Jamie and Karen were watching their birds, all the birds burst into the air in a panic. The reason was spotted in a tree a few streets over but still able to get a documentary photo of a MERLIN [Faucon émerillon].

**Brian Coyle had a Weasel, in its striking white winter plumage, show up at his Lower Mountain Road back deck on Thursday afternoon. Brian saw it bring back a freshly caught mouse. Brian's female NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] is now a daily regular. It sure is great to hear the number of NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge] patrons being reported are staying in the area. Brian also capture a photo of a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] checking out his yard offerings.

**Shawn Cormier's striking full frame bird images included a male and female EVENING GROSBEAK [Gros-bec errant] on Tuesday. These images sure makes one realize how they got the name “Grosbeak”.

**The EVENING GROSBEAK [Gros-bec errant] just keep on coming. Jim Johnson had a small flock arrive to his Scotch Settlement feeder yard. This is an excellent site for this species so that number can be expected to swell with all the welcomed recent reports of this species.

**Brian Stone got a great photo of the moon as it appeared on Tuesday night in Perth. Note all the depressions on the moon surface Galileo assumed to be seas back in 1610. How our optics have changed.

Brian also got some nice photos of a RUFFED GROUSE trail in fresh snow with a bit of scat to help confirm the trail maker.

**I am attaching a photo of a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH [Sittelle à poitrine blanche] that has become a regular at our Moncton feeder yard for the first time joining at least two RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH [Sittelle à poitrine rousse] that are not usual patrons for us in town. The sparrow line-up is exceptional as it is at many other feeder yards with FOX SPARROW [Bruant fauve], WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW [Bruant à couronne blanche], WHITE-THROATED SPARROW [Bruant à gorge blanche], AMERICAN TREE SPARROW [Bruant hudsonien], SONG SPARROW [Bruant chanteur]and several DARK-EYED JUNCO [Junco ardoisé]. The male RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER [Pic à ventre roux] is a daily regular now along with a male NORTHERN CARDINAL [Cardinal rouge]. We would love someone to share a few EVENING GROSBEAK [Gros-bec errant] with us!

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton