NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Jan 16, 2022 (Sunday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins is very happy to catch photos of her yard birds without going outside. Especially since the power may or may not be on when she gets back! The number of American Goldfinch increased from none to several. PURPLE FINCH numbers are at least 20 or more. This is over the weekend.
She 'built'
a much more natural peanut butter feeder, taking several pinecones, tying them
together and slathering them with peanut butter before hanging them next to the
suet feeder. Some have looked, but no takers yet.
It is not
unusual for birds to take a few days or more to become accustomed to a new
feeder to assure all is safe.
Jane also had a surprise visitor to her yard, a SONG
SPARROW. That makes 4 sparrow species, including American Tree Sparrow,
White-throated Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco over this past weekend.
**Gordon Rattray has seen a large influx of birds since
the two snowstorms. On Sunday he had 13 different species in his Weldon
yard. He had a first of winter female Purple Finch join the
regulars but of note is the absence of woodpeckers. Gordon has only been
seeing one female Downy Woodpecker all winter. On Sunday morning after
the really cold night, two birds had a coating of frost on their backs, the
Downy Woodpecker and the American Tree Sparrow.
**Krista
Doyle was fortunate enough to get a nice photograph of a female Merlin perched
long enough for a sitting. The rich chocolate brown of the female shows nicely
as well as the heavy dark tail bands in comparison to the light bands. The weak
single ‘moustache’ is barely visible. This falcon catches its bird prey in
flight by a sudden burst of speed rather than by diving. It is larger than the Kestrel
but smaller than the Peregrine Falcon.
It would
seem more Merlin are staying over the winter with us than in the past.
Krista also
shares a photo of a type of suet feeder that she uses in her yard finding it
seems to work well.
**Brian
Stone drove along the coast from Petit Cap to Shediac on Sunday but didn't see
much more than ice and snow. There was no open water near enough to check with
just binoculars. His only photo op was a group of about 45 SNOW BUNTINGS that
landed in a wind cleared patch of ground at the Niles St. wharf in Cap-Pele. It
was nice weather though and was refreshing to get out for a while.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
