Nature Moncton Nature News: Nov 25 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, November 25, 2019 (Monday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition, go to <http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca>.

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Please advise the editor if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling. Note that corrections, deletions, or delayed additions may not always appear on the Info Line and email transcript but will always appear on the BlogSpot. For this reason, it is recommended that those wishing to look at historical records use the BlogSpot rather than the email transcript. The BlogSpot can always be accessed from the website.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at <http://naturemoncton.com>.

Edited by Nelson Poirier, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Transcript by David Christie, <maryspt@mac.com>

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

** On Sunday, Leigh Eaton was able to get some awesome photos of a COOPER’S HAWK [Épervier de Cooper] in his Foxwood Drive yard, which is in the Hildegarde area of Moncton. It quickly lifted to a nearby tree, when it became aware of Leigh’s presence, but returned a few minutes later to remove its ROCK PIGEON [Pigeon biset] meal to a more secure location that allowed Leigh to get co-operative photos. I’m attaching all of Leigh’s photos, as several nice Cooper’s Hawk features show, to differentiate it from a large female Sharp-shinned Hawk [Épervier brun]. The bird has an adult with the horizontal chest striping, but the eye has not gone to red from the juvenile yellowish yet, so it’s probably a young adult. The spread tail view shows nicely how each tail feather (rectrix), from the centre going out is progressively shorter, characteristic of the Cooper’s Hawk, when we are lucky enough to see it this way. The white tail tip is very broad, more so than would be expected on a Sharp-shinned Hawk. A pigeon is a large prey for a female Sharp-shinned Hawk and the size of this bird is obviously large compared to the pigeon carcass. The crown is a few shades darker than the nape and back, whereas the Sharp-shinned Hawk is expected to be a more uniform tone all the way from the crown to the mantle. The legs also appear thicker and bulkier than would be expected in a Sharp-shinned Hawk. We went into a lot of detail with Leigh’s photos but it’s definitely time to point out the features to differentiate these two raptors with similarities. All thanks to Gilles Belliveau for confirming and pointing out important features to note.

** EUROPEAN STARLINGS [Étourneau sansonnet] are a bird species that many of us are not particularly impressed with, but they are part of the scene now and we have to learn to live with them or encourage them to feed elsewhere than our feeder yards, with their bad manners. The winter plumage change of this bird is dramatic, with the bill turning black from breeding yellow, and the plumage taking on the white star-spots that give them their name. Aldo Dorio sends some photos of them in winter plumage, commenting that he is seeing very little bird life at Hay Island at the moment, but Starlings are very abundant around the Néguac wharf.

Nelson Poirier <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Nature Moncton