NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, 24 October 2020 (Saturday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Catherine Clements Info Line #:
506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
**Nice to have the first AMERICAN TREE SPARROW
[Bruant hudsonien] report with a nice photo, to get us all familiar again with
this sparrow species that joins us in the winter, migrating from its breeding
grounds in the north to our area to overwinter with us, and often seen at feeder
yards. Peter Gadd got the photo on the boardwalk at Hay Island. Peter also saw
22 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal] still enjoying the WINTERBERRY HOLLY [Houx
verticillé] shrub at Hay Island that Aldo Dorio had seen on Thursday.
**Marguerite
Winsor sends more great photos of our SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER [Tyran tigré]
guest. Bill and Marguerite visited it on Wednesday, but could not stay due to
other commitments. They returned to Mac Wilmot’s yard on Thursday with grapes
and black currants from their freezer as potential fodder for it. They were
rewarded for their generosity by having the bird pose in a beautiful RED MAPLE
[Plaine rouge] tree as a background, within 15 minutes of their arrival, to get
special front and rear view photos. This bird has made for many contented
birders.
** Brian and
Annette Stone visited Mac Wilmot’s Friday morning but could not stay long. They looked for about an hour in both yards,
no luck, but when on our way back to the car to leave Annette spotted it way up
in a tree to give Brian some distant photos.
**Roger LeBlanc has put together a nice
round-up of the life and times of our present New Brunswick guest, the
SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER [Tyran tigré]. Mac Wilmot gathered some VIRGINIA
CREEPER [Vigne vierge] wild berries and stapled the branches where it was first
spotted. Sure enough, the flycatcher was pleased with the gift and took to it
immediately. The birders visiting liked the scenario as well, as they got a
great audience of it dining; it did not mind its admiring audience. The
write-up and distribution map (first photo) Roger LeBlanc forwards is added
below, to get to know our guest even better. It’s covered a lot of country to
join us!
From
Roger LeBlanc “When birders gathers around such a rare bird as the Sulphur
-bellied Flycatcher that is presently present in Riverview (see detail on
location in previous blogs) a couple of questions always come up. Two of
the most common are often; where should this bird be and what is it doing here.
To try and help on this here is the ‘normal’ distribution map for
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher.
What is
in orange is the breeding area so mostly in Mexico and parts of Central America
with just a limited area in South Eastern Arizona. In yellow is the normal
migration route and in blue is the wintering area. And this is where this bird should be
by now. So why is it way up here? Impossible to say for sure 100% but there are really 2 main
options. # 1 it got thrown off course by some weather event (hurricane, wind storm etc.)
and ended up here. # 2 It’s navigation system are damaged and instead of going
South West (so from let’s say Mexico to Peru) it is going North East and ended up
here. This is a known aspect of
bird migration that is often called reverse migration. At this time of year
and with this species the second option seems more probable and it sadly means that the bird will probably never make it back to his normal
distribution area. But really who knows? We can always wish the best for it and for sure
take advantage of it while it is with us.
**Clarence
Cormier reported earlier that the Mountain-ash [Sorbier des oiseaux] crop was
down somewhat in his Grande-Digue area, where there normally is a very
significant crop. On Friday he checked some other areas near his site to find a
fair to good crop, so good news for the winter fruit connoisseur birds Clarence
will probably soon be seeing.
**Louise Richard enjoyed a RUFFED GROUSE
[Gélinotte huppée] in a tree by their Acadieville cabin, as well as seeing a
BLACK BEAR [Ours noir] cross the highway. Jean Renton commented yesterday they
are seeing more bears than usual at Canaan Forks, to suggest the Black Bear
population may be in good numbers.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
