NATURE MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE
Dec 2, 2021 (Tuesday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Gordon Rattray visited several wharfs along the east shore from Cap-Lumiere to Pointe-du-Chene on December 27. Some observations made by Gordon included that all wharfs except Pointe-du-Chene had only small amounts of ice. He found Pointe-du-Chene nearly iced over with only the section to the east open. Long-tailed ducks were at 6 sites, The goldeneyes were at Saint-Thomas, as was a Common Merganser. Gordon found a Grey Seal at Pointe-du-Chene. There were no birds observed at Caissie Cape Wharf.
**Brian Stone
visited and walked through Russel Lake Park in Dartmouth on Sunday, the last
day of his Dartmouth visit. Most of the water in the lakes and ponds in the
park were frozen over but a few small areas remained open, and some ducks were
making the most of it. Several dozen MALLARD DUCKS and AMERICAN BLACK
DUCKS were in the majority but there were 2 interesting standouts that did
not belong to that group. A nice looking male NORTHERN PINTAIL DUCK was
gently floating in a quiet corner of the small stretch of open water not too
far from the very colourful, much photographed, escaped domestic MANDARIN
DUCK (editors note: eye candy) that has been a local celebrity
in the Dartmouth area in the month of December. The Mandarin Duck was busy
splashing and washing his feathers and so appeared a bit more ruffled than in
other photos taken recently.
On the
trail through the park Brian was pointed towards a pair of NORTHERN
CARDINALS foraging in some bushes. The small stream alongside the trail
contained many instances of interesting ice formations and one of the lakes had
some fresh-looking BEAVER workings and a fresh looking lodge. One last
stop again at Sullivan's Pond gave a couple nice images of the other escaped DOMESTIC
DUCK that is posing for viewers this month.
**Roger LeBlanc and I did a zone of the Bouctouche Christmas Bird Count that included the Bouctouche Dune and area. There was a lot of open water and lots of waterfowl including eiders, scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, mergansers, and goldeneye could be seen using a scope. A female Black Scoter as well as a female Long-tailed Duck did come close enough to be photographed.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
