Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 27 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December 27, 2018 (Thursday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** Jane Leblanc took a walk up over the top of the St. Martins beach caves on Wednesday. She comments that even with the wind chill it was a great day for it in the sheltered areas with lots of bare ground. The ice formations in the caves were spectacular. Jane shares some photos taken from above into the third cave, the one that is not visible from the beach.

** Gordon Rattray visited the Grey Brook Marsh area on Wednesday to get some interesting serial photos of the interaction between two RAVENS [Grand corbeau]. It could well be the start of the Raven pair bonding with pairs doing aerial acrobatics and barrel rolls. The upside down bird is an interesting scenario. Gordon also reports that his feeder yard activity is down considerably which is also being noticed at most feeder yards at the moment. Gordon also noted a raptor at the rear of his property, suspecting it to be a RED-TAILED HAWK [Buse à queue rousse].

** Aldo Dorio sends some male COMMON MERGANSER [Grand Harle] and GOLDENEYE [Garrot à oeil d'or] photos taken at Burnt Church. It can be a confusing time of year with some of the sea ducks in their variable plumage states. The angle of the goldeneye photos seem to show features that may need more scrutiny to label the goldeneye species.

** Brian Stone revisited the duck troupe at the Mapleton Park bridge over Hall’s Creek at the Gorge Rd. entrance on Wednesday. The WOOD DUCK [Canard branchu] continues to peacefully be in company with the MALLARD [Canard colvert] troupe which was not the case a few years ago when they aggressively harassed a male Wood Duck that tried to join them. Some photos of the Wood Duck with the flock and also in company with one pair of Mallards show clearly the smaller size of the Wood Duck.

At the park Brian also got photos of the results of the thaw/freeze cycle of the past week with some ice pans seemingly being left high and dry. A BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE [Mésange à tête noire] humored Brian by being polite enough to check out one offering in his hand. It does seem to be suggesting “Is that it?”

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton