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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
** Cathy Simon and her family explored
Wilson Marsh along the Petitcodiac River for the first time on Saturday,
November 6. They were happy to see 1 male and 7 female Purple Finches enjoying some berries on
a sunny but frosty morning. (Editors note: the male Purple Finch does not take
on its reddish male plumage until its 2nd fall of life meaning some
of these female appearing birds may actually be juvenile males)
**Louise Nichols was able to capture an
excellent trail camera video of 3 Bobcats travelling together on their Aulac property.
This is very apt to be a mother Bobcat with 2 young-of-the-year. The
young-of-the-year kits will stay with their mother until she comes into estrus
which is usually by February. At this point, the teenage kits will be
unceremoniously advised to head out on their own.
Take a look at the action at the
attached link:
**Great to see photos of White-winged
Crossbills coming in. Aldo Dorio photographed the species enjoying foraging
for the cone seeds of Balsam Fir at Hay Island on Tuesday. (Editors note: note
the upright stalks of Balsam Fir cones). We have a very abundant cone crop this
season in New Brunswick to make the treetop café welcoming to White-winged
Crossbills that hope they/we will enjoy all winter.
**Dan Hicks reports that arena staff arrived to work Tuesday morning to find a Barred Owl obviously in distress at the
entrance of the Kay / Crossman Center. There were a number of crows nearby
harassing it (Dan comments he now gets the reference to murder of crows!) The
staff kept watch while DNR arranged to pick up to get it to the Atlantic Wildlife
Institute.
**Yolande LeBlanc in Memramcook reports the birds
have found her Mountain Ash berries. The Northern
Cardinal pair were accompanied by two female
plumage Purple Finches. She wonders if they wait until the berries have
frozen a few times when they will become sweeter. The bushes have lots of
berries. The Wild Raisin has been gone
for a while. The Highbush Cranberry
is not being touched, and Yolande knows why after tasting one! (Editors note:
Highbush Cranberry tends to be fodder of last resort, except for those that
choose the seed like the Pine Grosbeak). Chokeberries may not be ready. Yolande
comments the berries of Chokeberry are still red and yellow. It's the first year it has had many berries, and they're
notably large.
At the
McManus Reserve, the Grape vines are
loaded so suspects that could bring some interest.
Yolande also comments the male Northern Cardinal seems to follow the
female everywhere. Also, interesting to hear that the Northern Cardinal eats
berries.
**The beautiful clear night sky continued Tuesday evening. Yvette
Richard was able to catch Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and the Moon in one photo
frame from Cocagne. The run of clear sky nights appears about to end tonight.
Yvette also got an excellent photo of a Red-necked Grebe in the expected winter plumage at Pointe-du-Chene wharf Tuesday afternoon. We are joined by this species and Horned Grebes in winter off our coast in areas of open water.
Yvette also
visited the Port Elgin lagoon. There were a surprising number of Bufflehead, perhaps up to 100, at the
lagoon commenting it was the most she has ever seen at once.
A Red-throated Loon was at the Cape
Tormentine wharf.
Yvette noted
many loons along the whole coast from Shediac to Cape
Tormentine. She also saw a significant number of Surf Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks.
**Romeo Doucette in Chelmsford has one of the most
active Canada Jay feeding setups
that I have ever seen. I dropped by on Tuesday, and several dropped by very
quickly.
Romeo purchases frozen boxes of meat and bone
‘sawdust’ from a local butcher shop. He places the box of booty just inside his
garage door which he opens first thing in the morning and closes at dusk. He
has been feeding Canada Jays for several years. He started feeding October 1
this season and has seen a maximum of 7 Canada Jays visiting at one time. In October,
he was seeing some dark juveniles but not at the moment assuming they have
molted to adult plumage.
The Canada Jays have already gone through 3 boxes
of the bone-meat blend. They fed with gusto while I visited but I suspect they
detected a stranger with a camera in hand!
Romeo’s relationship with his patrons is truly
special.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
