NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September 08, 2021 (Wednesday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
**Jim and Therese Carroll share some great photos of two special shorebirds.
On Tuesday at Red Head Marsh, Saint John Therese and Jim encountered a CURLEW SANDPIPER. While Jim was out on the marsh photographing a BAIRD’S SANDPIPER, Therese scoped a shorebird with unusual cinnamon colouration. She directed Jim to it to photograph. They learned later it was a bird not recorded in NB since Sept 10, 1999 by a group of British birders on Grand Manan Island. While photographing the marsh, it was sent to the air by the resident Merlin. They tried unsuccessfully to relocate the bird for the next 25 minutes.
The photos of the Curlew Sandpiper are indeed excellent but the photo of the uncommon Baird’s Sandpiper
very nicely shows the long primary projection beyond the tail, the lack of
streaking on the flank, the tendency of the bird to walk in a stooped forward
posture, as well as less prominent eye ring and superciliary line and more
brown tones; the features that help to distinguish it from the similar at first
White-rumped Sandpiper.
** Four BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS have been hanging around a pond on the other side of Amherst, N.S. in Shinimicas. Louise Nichols went to see them on Tuesday. They are on a pond located on the Shinimicas Rd. which is about 20 minutes outside Amherst off of Highway 6. The pond is a few kilometers up that road on the left side. The ducks are usually on the far side but seem quite content with their resting spot. They were sleeping on the bank for most of the time when she was there, but they woke up for a few minutes for some nice photo opportunities. One would have to wonder if these ducks have any connection to the ones that were in New Brunswick earlier in the summer.
** It is indeed September 08 and is the
expected time for the presence of female and juvenile RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS to dwindle in numbers fast as they file
flight plans south. The majority of the males left in mid-august but there are
always stragglers but it is very indicated to keep a hummingbird feeder up even
until after the first frost comes, taking the feeder in on freezing nights. It
is the time of the year when unexpected hummingbird species can show up so keep
a close eye. Stella Leblanc spotted a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in her
Bouctouche yard coming to her flowers on Tuesday and Jean Paul got a quick cell
phone photo.
** Yvette Richard got a photograph of a
GREAT BLUE HERON young-of-the-year
that clearly shows the dark upper mandible and the yellow lower mandible of the
juvenile with the adult bill being totally yellow. The crown is usually darker
than this specimen shows. The generally rough, slightly ragged plumage also
suggests a juvenile.
** Aldo Dorio got a nice close up photo
of a young-of-the-year SPOTTED SANDPIPER
that nicely shows the barred wing coverts, the paler yellow legs than the
adult, and the prominent white band going vertically just ahead of the wing,
the lack of the spotted breast and chest, and the dull bill colour compared to
the orange bill of the adult.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
