NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January
31, 2021 (Sunday)
To respond by e-mail, please address
your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any
errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
**Andrew Darcy was one of the volunteers out on Saturday
morning doing the Nature NB Barrow’s Goldeneye Survey 2021 leaving a
nice report of his morning effort.
It was a cold but sunny day for the first segment of the
annual Barrow's Goldeneye survey of 2021. Darcy spent the better part of his
day looking for waterfowl along the coast from Cap-Pele to Bouctouche and
tallied at least 30 Barrows Goldeneye from various locations, with the
Aboujagane River, Cocagne bridge, and Bouctouche South being most productive.
Other species of waterfowl sighted included, Red-breasted Merganser, Common
Merganser, Common Goldeneye, Black Scoter and Long-tailed duck. He also saw an
adult Bald Eagle on the ice along the river edge at Cocagne. Pointe-du-Chene
Wharf was frozen over and fairly unproductive as was Cap-Pele, but he did see
an unexpected surprise at Cap-Pele as there was a flock of at least 20 Pine
Grosbeak along the beach in some small shrubs, as well as a large (60+) flock
of Common Redpoll present in the surrounding conifers. Barrow’s Goldeneye are
fairly scarce and rare back in Ontario (from where Darcy recently moved) so was
a pleasure for him to see so many in one day! He quickly picked up on the ID
characteristics and was interesting to see how different the Common and
Barrow's actually are when one starts to see so many. The Barrow’s Goldeneye
were sometimes mixed with Common Goldeneye and even the Red-breasted Merganser
but he did also notice they appeared to keep to themselves and stick together
in certain locations. They were fairly far out for the most part but Darcy did
get some good photos showing the key ID characteristics and even a photo with
male and female of both Common and Barrow's in one frame. The purple sheen on
the head of the Barrow’s Goldeneye can be seen quite well in one photo.
Additionally the black spur on body, flat forehead, and windows of white on
back can be seen well. For the females, Barrow’s Goldeneye have mostly orange
smaller beaks and flat foreheads, where the Common has mostly black bill that
is larger and with a more sloped forehead.
(Editors note: the fully orange bill of the breeding
plumage female Barrow’s Goldeneye shows nicely. The bill of the female Common Goldeneye
would be partially orange)
**Brian Stone’s day started off with a SOLAR HALO to give a
nice comparison with the Lunar Halo and Lunar Corona featured in yesterday’s
edition. Scroll back to compare.
Brian also visited the Tantramar Marsh to get a distant
photo of a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and an even more distant but documentary photo of
a SNOWY OWL.
** Pat and I did a run to Pointe-du-Chêne wharf and L’Aboiteau wharf in Cap Pelé in
Saturday’s sunshine therapy. The only
wildlife at Pointe-du-Chêne were seals.
Some were very distant, but one was in photo range. The brown pelage really fooled me. It seemed the size of a HARBOUR SEAL [Phoque commun], but I would have expected much more spotty
pelage if a Harbour Seal, and we don’t very often see Harbour Seals hauled out
on ice flows. In a discussion with Don
McAlpine, he thought it was indeed a Harbour Seal, commenting that the pelage
of a Harbour Seal is indeed quite variable.
Don also commented that they see Harbour Seals pulled out on the ice in
the Saint John area, and he saw some signs of moulting in my photos which are
attached.
I was
surprised how many smelt shacks were out on the ice with the temperatures warm
up until now.
** We also paid a visit to the flowering crab
tree that had the trio of Bohemian Waxwings, American Robins and a few Pine
Grosbeaks that Daryl Doucet had found and reported on yesterday’s edition. The BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS [Jaseur boréal] and AMERICAN
ROBINS [Merle d'Amérique] were back, but no Pine Grosbeaks seen.
That tree has a lot of winter feed left on it!
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE (MALES AND FEMALES)). JAN. 30, 2021. ANDREW DARCY
