Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 10 2021

NATURE MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE

Dec 10, 2021 (Friday)

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

**John Inman is getting some nice action at is 222 Mary’s Point Road feeder yard. He had a second Rusty Blackbird come in on Wednesday. He still has a few Red-winged Blackbirds as patrons and a Baltimore Oriole is still showing up now and then. The Red-bellied Woodpecker returned after leaving for approximately 2 weeks. He also has a pair of Northern Flicker that are still showing up daily in his yard.

**Elaine Gallant had a pleasant surprise on Thursday when a Pine Warbler appeared in her Pointe-du-Chene yard for the first time she has seen it this winter. It came in after it stopped snowing and returned several times before dark feeding to suet to get some nice photos. Elaine have had this species come to her yard a few other winters.

**Yolande LeBlanc had a bright male Red-bellied Woodpecker, who loved Kraft Just Peanuts peanut butter arrive to her Memramcook yard on Thursday. Yolande had her pair of Northern Cardinals visit early and late day on Thursday. The Pine Warbler survives and comes to the peanut butter. Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadees, more and more American Goldfinches, and one Dark-eyed Junco, but no other sparrows.

** Jane LeBlanc was looking out her window in St. Martins, and got a photo of a COMMON GRACKLE, just as the snow was starting on Wednesday, Dec. 8. Just before dark, she noticed it had 5 friends with it at the sunflower seed feeder.

Jane has also seen GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS along her driveway for the last two days but hasn't managed a photo.

**Several days ago, Brian Stone got some nice photos of turkeys that he happened upon in Titusville which I labelled as Wild Turkeys. Jim Wilson, who was very involved in the research to allow the Wild Turkey to become a species present in New Brunswick, suggested it would be unlikely for the wild population to have extended into the Titusville area.

Roger LeBlanc, who is also a member of the New Brunswick Bird Records Committee was involved with that decision. I asked Roger if he would give a ‘brief’ explanation of how we determine what is wild or feral. Roger has answered that request and suggested it is very difficult to give a brief answer to this complicated question. Roger’s answers are certainly 'not brief' but complete and very worth taking the time to read.

Paraphrasing Roger

Let me try and answer your question in a “brief” way. Not so easy a task as it might seem when using terms and concepts like “life lists”, “wild”, "established species”, "self sustaining”, "rules of birding” and “Bird Records Committees” amongst others. Starting from the start there is no clear historical proof that there was ever a self-sustaining population of Wild Turkey in NB. First people and later colonists don’t seem to have used it as a food source from the wild. In more recent times there is nothing to show that this had changed up to a couple of decades ago. Why? Probably that weather conditions and the habitat were such that they could not survive on their own here. But both of these have changed a lot. So, in this light we must consider it as an introduced species like let's say Ring-necked Pheasant. And that is important as there are “rules of the game” for counting these birds, And if you go with these rules for your "life list” it's not the same as let’s say Yellow Rail that you are much less likely to see (or hear) but that we know have bred and hopefully still do in the province. Now this does not mean you can't see a Wild Turkey in the wild. It could just not be really “wild” in the bird watching sense which means coming form a self-sustaining population for a given amount of time. Why? Because some people might have produced birds from readily available chicks or eggs and some of these could then have escaped or been deliberately and illegally released for hunting, but these birds may or may not be self-sustaining for a given amount of time. And that aspect of course adds a layer of complexity to the matter. Now of course the name in itself brings confusion cause some Wild Turkeys can effectively be wild and some not just like for instance you could very well see an escaped chicken “in the wild” but you can't count it. Now I agree there have been Wild Turkeys reported for decades in particular in the southwestern part of the province and yes near Fredericton, but could you count them if you played by the rules? The simple answer is no because they were not accepted as self-sustaining. But what does that mean? And what are these rules and who decides on them. Well in North America of course there are biologists and ornithologists that study birds and their evolution but more directly relevant to bird watching. There are in almost every province and state Bird Record Committees that collect reports mostly of “rare” birds and try to define first if there are what observers think they are at the species level and then if it makes sense to accept the fact that they are of natural and wild provenance and so can be “counted” or are escaped or released birds and so can't. For instance in regard to recent sightings that Black-throated Gray warbler (not voted on yet ) will probably qualify but the strange pheasant in Shediac would not because it is clearly there because someone lost or released it form captivity. And then at the continental level there is the American Birding Association that offer services to the birding community in general and in particular proposes some rules of the game. So, in this context up to about 2017 nobody had tried to address the question if the Wild Turkey seen in the province were effectively wild and so could be “counted” or not, because frankly it was a very hard nut to crack. Then in 2017 the New Brunswick Bird Record Committee finally decide to address the question. But as we are after all a science-based organization hosted by the NB Museum we could not just decide such a complicated matter without doing some research. Jim Wilson, who was sitting on the committee at the time, offered and was mandated to do that research. After quite a bit of work spread out on 2 years he offered a very detailed paper on which we based our decision to accept Wild Turkey as an established species in the province in 2019 but with geographical restriction on where we thought they were “countable” because probably self-sustaining and where we expressed doubts because of the very real possibility of released birds. Of course, this is not a clear cut subject but that is often the case with bird distribution. Soon I hope we will have a web site attached to the NB Museum where I imagine things like that could be hosted with permission of the authors but for now if they want a copy the can ask Paul at paul@mansz.com You will find in there the definition we borrowed from the ABA of things like acceptable introduced and self sustaining species and why Jim’s research helped us to vote to accept unanimously adding the Wild Turkey to the check list of the province.

I hope this helps. Maybe not so brief as you would have liked but it is a complicated matter. Still in fact a very interesting one when trying to assess if a bird population is really “wild” and so can be counted on your “life list” if you play by the rules of the game. (Editors note: I expect Roger’s effort will help clarify this item for us)

**It’s Friday and time to check in with sky guru Curt Nason to see what next week sky will have for us to watch for as well as those early sunset times:

Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021 December 11 – December 18
The year’s best meteor shower radiates from near the star Castor in Gemini early this week, with Monday and Tuesday mornings being the peak times. Under ideal conditions the Geminids can average two shooting stars per minute, but don’t expect to see anywhere near that number. With Gemini rising soon after an early sunset and riding high just after midnight, convenient evening viewing is rewarded more often than for the showers from Perseus and Leo, which rise much later on their peak nights. This year the Moon sets around 3 am on the peak mornings, providing several hours of a darker sky for night owls and early risers.

The Geminids are relatively slow and easier to catch with the eye, and they often have a golden glow. Dress very warmly, get comfortable in a reclining position, face an unobstructed patch of sky away from artificial lighting, and hope for a cloudless sky. Viewing on the days before and after could also be worthwhile if the weather forecast isn’t promising for the peak times.

The parent “comet” for the Geminids is actually the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which was discovered in 1983. It orbits the Sun in a little more than 17 months, crossing the orbits of Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury. At perihelion its temperature can exceed 600 C, which can cause its carbon-water material to break down and release the pebbles and dust particles that give us meteors when they burn up in our atmosphere.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:51 am and sunset will occur at 4:33 pm, giving 8 hours, 42 minutes of daylight (7:53 am and 4:41 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:56 am and set at 4:34 pm, giving 8 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (7:58 am and 4:43 pm in Saint John).

The Moon will be going through its waxing gibbous phase throughout the week, providing interesting evening views for binocular and telescope users, particularly this weekend. Venus is stationary on Friday and soon it will plummet sunward toward inferior conjunction on January 8. Jupiter and Saturn continue their westward crawl against the stars, while speedier Jupiter lengthens the distance between them. The shadow of its moon Io crosses the planet for telescope users between 5:38 and 7:54 pm Tuesday, with Io ending its transit about halfway between. Mars can be seen with binoculars in the morning sky, rising shortly after 6 am.

Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard, the best comet of the year, had been a binocular object in the morning sky for the past week. It makes its closest approach to Earth this weekend and therefore it is moving rapidly across the sky; unfortunately, into twilight but it should be bright enough for a binocular view. Your best chance could be next Friday or Saturday around 5:30 pm in evening twilight when it passes about a binocular width below Venus.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.