Nature Moncton Nature News: Feb 24 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, February 24, 2019 (Sunday)

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Editor: Nelson Poirier

Transcript by: David Christie

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

** Jane LeBlanc, in St. Martins, comments that she usually gets a small flock of PINE GROSBEAKS [Durbec des sapins] each winter. Their first visit this year happened on Saturday, with both adult males and females. There is a plantation of Austrian Pine there, but they always come to the spruce. Jane also comments that she sometimes sees BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES [Mésange à tête noire] eating Staghorn Sumac seeds, but they seem to prefer using the sumac as a launching pad to the feeders.

Jane is also fortunate to have 3 Ruffed Grouse coming to enjoy foraging on the nutritious buds of a Yellow Birch tree right outside her St. Martins kitchen window. They arrive at dawn and dusk.

** Louise Richard had a CANADA JAY [Mésangeai du Canada] visit her suet block at their Acadieville cabin on Saturday. It’s always a treat to get this species in a feeder yard. The suet block was a store-purchased one that met the satisfaction of the jay.

** I’m attaching a few photos of a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [Épervier brun] that put on a show around our feeders on Saturday. The photos aren’t great but show some features of this species that may be interesting. This bird would appear to be moulting from immature to mature plumage. The breast markings are almost a blend of horizontal and vertical striping, however the eye is still yellow, not the adult red. The tail shows the white bands much wider than the dark bands, which would be the opposite of that in the similar size Merlin [Faucon émerillon], and the outer tail feathers are longer than those in the middle, to quickly eliminate a Cooper’s Hawk [Épervier de Cooper], which the overall size of the bird did anyway. This bird put on a major fuss in pursuit of prey inside the nearby thick cedar hedge. It would not seem to be an effective hunting tactic, which it wasn’t. Everything in the hedge got lots of time to move away.

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton