Nature Moncton Nature News: Feb 23 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, 23 February 2019 (Saturday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Catherine Clements

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

**The mystery of the raptor that zoomed through Sterling and Judy Marsh’s yard on Thursday may be solved. Judy and Sterling were aware of a CROW’s [Corneille] nest in a neighbour’s tree, built by Crows a few years ago. On Friday morning they spotted a GREAT HORNED OWL [Grand-duc d'Amérique] in the branches above the nest. Some binocular use spotted an Owl on the nest. The Great Horned Owl nesting season has obviously already started. With the Great Horned Owl, the female would stay on the nest to incubate the precious egg cargo, while the male would feed the female until eggs are hatched and chicks are well down-covered. It is expected for the Great Horned Owl to take over a used stick nest of another bird, often that of a Crow. This Owl species does not normally construct its own nest. Judy and Sterling were very careful to view this very interesting scenario from a distance, and take photos with zoom camera, to avoid any disturbance to the nesting pair.

**More significant raptor observations: Brenda Morin spotted a PEREGRINE FALCON [Faucon pèlerin] on the roof of the Saint John Regional Hospital while at work on February 5th. It was feeding on a PIGEON [Pigeon] between Towers A and B of the hospital. Brenda got a photo of it on her cell phone that is attached. Carol Shea (Brian Stone’s sister) also works at the Saint John Regional Hospital and spotted two Peregrine Falcons at the same spot on the roof of the hospital again, enjoying fresh Pigeon, on February 22nd. The time of year is suggesting a pair. I have heard no reports of Peregrine Falcon activity around Moncton’s Assomption Place nest box as of yet. It is great to see how successful the re-introduction program with Peregrine Falcons has gone, after the disastrous DDT scenario of the 1970s.

**RACCOONS [Raton laveur] tend to stay quiet during the depths of winter, coming out in warmer temperatures to forage, as they do not cache winter food supplies. They also usually do so mainly nocturnally, and enjoying our bird feeder setups more than we may prefer. Jim Carroll spotted two Raccoons doing things a bit differently on the sunny day of Friday. They altered their schedule to take advantage of the low full moon tide at 10 a.m. in the morning on Courtenay Bay in the midst of the City of Saint John, obviously exploiting a natural food source. One of Jim’s photos very clearly shows the finger-like paws of this animal that would reflect in what we would see with the footprints and tracks in suitable substrate. They don’t seem to be showing what they are after, but the galloping gourmet diet of this animal could make that almost anything in the yummy Fundy mudflats.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton