NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, February
14, 2021 (Sunday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** The notice of the Tuesday night
Nature Moncton February virtual meeting was sent out on yesterday’s edition and
will be repeated on Monday and Tuesday.
The link for anyone to join in is attached below.
https://meet.google.com/nbg-baff-ioc
** Yvette Richard got some great photos
of goldeneye activity around the Little Bouctouche River bridge on Friday to
include both BARROW'S
GOLDENEYE [Garrot d'Islande] and COMMON GOLDENEYE [Garrot à
oeil d'or] groups. Take note of the complete brilliant orange
bill of the breeding plumage female Barrow’s Goldeneye. Also, the photos show the presence of a 1st
winter male Barrow’s Goldeneye as well as a 1st winter male Common
Goldeneye (arrow), one including it just having nabbed a crab as prey. Many pelagic waterfowl take two or more years
to reach maturity unlike most of the freshwater puddle duck waterfowl that take
only one year. Yvette also got a photo
of an adult female COMMON MERGANSER [Grand Harle].
** Louise Nichols came across some
fresh tracks/trail in the woods near their Aulac home. They did seem small, but they were in the
middle of the woods. There was also
perfect stepping as the hind print seemed to overlap with the front, and the
stride was 17 inches. The prints
themselves were just under 2 inches long and about 1 ¾ inches wide. These measurements nicely match that of a BOBCAT [Lynx roux].
Also note the roundness of the paw print and the lack of claw
marks. The actual track measurements of
a Bobcat
would be much smaller than the more
uncommon in this area Lynx, and the pawprint more defined than a Lynx as the
Lynx pad is hairy as well as large.
** Judy
Stokedale was snowshoeing Saturday on a property which runs along the
Kennebecasis River, near Apohaqui. She took some photos of tracks that really
have had her curious as to what they might be from. They were too large for a
fox, but in a straight line - with prints spaced at least 16-20 inches apart
and perhaps more. They were all in the meadow, not too far from the river.
This perfect
stepping where hind foot falls in track of front foot is a typical strategy for
many mammals to save energy in snow travel. The prints do have a rounded
appearance to suggest feline and no claw marks are evident. The stride at 16-20
in. is longer than a normal Bobcat to make the more uncommon Lynx a rule-out.
There have been 2 reliable reports of Cougar in this area with Lynx and Cougar
prints near the same size but would suspect Cougar stride to be greater. Tracks
in snow can sometimes be tough to identify. (These are simply Editor’s thoughts
to consider as possibilities)
An
inexpensive compact tape measure as in the attached photo is very suggested to
keep on one’s person at all times to get accurate measurements of stride,
straddle, individual track measurements, and scat to give a better clue as to
track/trail maker.
** I hear a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL [Petite nyctale] tooting each spring from our Miramichi camp. After an afternoon on Saturday helping Roger Leblanc build two Saw-whet Owl boxes following the plans from Randy Lauff’s long-term work with these nest boxes, the Miramichi will have two nest boxes erected, hoping one will interest the real-estate search of the tooting owl.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
