NATURE MONCTON NATURE INFORMATION LINE
Jan 12, 2022 (Wednesday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**During this period of even more isolation than we would prefer, it’s a good time to show the birds at our feeder yards and what types of food and feeders they are using. The cold weather will no doubt bring on additional patrons.
**John Inman got a few more photos of the female Rusty Blackbird
that has been patronizing his Mary’s Point Road feeder yard this season. He also
shares a photo of an immature Red-winged Blackbird showing its vibrant
colours that also is remaining in his feeder yard.
**Jane LeBlanc had put some no longer used Christmas ornaments
out in her St. Martins yard for the birds to enjoy. One has a hole in the
middle, so she filled it with peanut butter and sunflower seeds. Tuesday, she
caught a Black-capped Chickadee eating
the (now frozen) peanut butter. She also noted it was very nice, on a day
like Tuesday, to be taking pictures inside, looking out! It surely was cold.
**Pat Gibbs
was able to get 3 photographs of a Sharp-shinned Hawk in her Moncton yard. This
is an interesting specimen showing both vertical and horizontal streaking on
the chest and the yellow eye to suggest it may still be an immature bird taking
on mature plumage. There is also still a lot of brown tones in the plumage.
**Clarence
Cormier sends a photo of what he feels fairly confident to be a Cooper’s Hawk noting a very significant
size differential from the Sharp-shinned Hawks he is very used to seeing on his
Grande Digue property monitoring the very abundant American Robin presence. Clarence is disappointed that one of his House Finch has gone missing but not surprised due to the raptor presence.
**Brian Stone drove to Cap Lumiere once more in the hopes of finding more
life there to photograph than the last few times he was there. But all that was
close enough to photograph were the same 3 female LONG-TAILED DUCKS that
were there the last times he was there and a lone male COMMON EIDER DUCK
that looked cold with ice on its chest feathers. A few GULLS were
hovering in the frosty breeze, handling the extreme cold much better than
Brian's fingers which came close to frostbite and are still tender to the
touch.
At the other wharves along the
way to Pointe-du-Chene, Brian only managed some distant photos of a COMMON
GOLDENEYE DUCK and 2 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE DUCKS. Most of the water in
all the areas was frozen over with just a few patches open at some spots.
At Cocagne Brian photographed some AMERICAN
ROBINS feasting on Mountain Ash berries in trees alongside the road.
**Pat and I
did a Sunday afternoon cruise of the Shediac and Cocagne area. The Grande Digue area
was teeming with American Robins enjoying the bountiful crop of Mountain Ash
berries.
It was very
pleasant to watch a mixed flock of American robins and Cedar Waxwings enjoying
the Mountain Ash fruit in the front yard of a home beside the main road. The
waxwing flock numbered approximately 40 and no Bohemian Waxwings were noted
among them. Cedar Waxwings seem to be overwintering in New Brunswick much more
recently, especially when food is abundant as it is this year. They were very
active and ignoring the bitter cold of Sunday.
Common
Mergansers were grouped at the diminishing areas of open water at Foch Bridge
in Shediac.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton