NATURE MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION
LINE, Oct. 2, 2021 (Saturday)
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
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
**The Nature Moncton Field trip to Sussex Bluff
is on for tomorrow Sunday, October 3 meeting at 1:00 PM at the Sussex Bluff.
For all details and map to meeting point, scroll back
to yesterday’s edition.
**** The Sackville Retention Pond was hopping again Friday
with shorebirds when Louise Nichols paid a productive visit. Five
Hudsonian Godwits have now joined the group. Along with the usual large
numbers of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs Friday, there were also a good number
of Pectoral Sandpipers and Killdeer. Louise counted 33 Wilson's Snipes weaving
their way in and out of the grasses.
Louise noticed an animal running across the mudflat close to the water at one point that she suspected to be a Mink. The nearby shorebirds did not like its presence and seemed to get a bit agitated when it went by, so she wondered if a Mink would prey on shorebirds. (Editor’s note: Mink can sure create havoc with birds on islands so suspect shorebirds would be potential prey). It went by her too fast to get the camera on it to see details about its appearance.
Lots of activity there once again.
**Eastern bluebirds tend to flock up in the
fall as swallows do but they stay with us longer in the fall than swallows and
they do not migrate very far south, going only as far as they can still glean
insects and sometimes berries. A few even overwinter with us as some did with
Fred and Sue Richards last winter with a dependable food source available to
them.
Stella LeBlanc spotted a flock of at least 11 in trees
in their Bouctouche yard on Thursday. Jean-Paul got a nice photo of one to show
it is a young-of-the-year bird molting to adult plumage showing the juvenile spotted
plumage still in the head area.
**Bob Blake keeps daily weather statistics from his Second
North River home and sends a table comparing daily temperatures and
precipitation comparing September 2020 and September 2021.
It appears daily high temperatures were in general
higher in September 2020 than September 2021 and we had significantly more
rainfall in 2021. Bob’s table is attached below as he sent it.
|
2020 |
2021 |
||
|
morning
temperatures |
daily highs and
rainfall |
morning
temperatures |
daily highs and
rainfall |
|
+22-1 day +21-1 +20-3 +17-2 +16-1 +15-1 +14-1 +13-1 +12-2 +9-2 +8-4 +6-1 +5-1 +4-3 +3-1 0-1 |
+28-2 26-1 +35-4 +24-3 +23-1 +22-3 +20-6 111 mms. rain |
+21-2 +19-2 +18-1 +17-1 +16-1 +15-3 +14-1 +13-3 +12-1 +11-5 +10-3 +9-1 +8-2 +6-1 |
+28-1 +24-4 +22-2 +21-2 +20-7 210 mms |
**Brian Stone had an Eastern Phoebe perch on a bush in his Moncton backyard and remain there for 10 minutes for a photo op (even though it had to be through 3 panes of glass). It did not vocalize. It is showing the pale-yellow belly of fresh fall plumage and it also was tail flicking in true Eastern Phoebe fashion.
Brian also photographed a Chipmunk
checking out new possibilities at Mapleton Park.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
