NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Feb 20, 2022 (Sunday)
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
**Fred and
Lynn Dube live in a wooded subdivision on the Niagara Rd. in Lower Coverdale, a
significant distance from open water. A pair of Mallard Ducks found some
ground food for birds in their yard. It was not long before the word went out
and the duck troupe number started to swell. Now a group of over 40 come daily
to glean every morsel. As expected, the majority are Mallard Ducks, but a few American Black
Ducks and hybrids join them.
The Dube’s also have a senior tree in their yard with
many crevices to make an ideal habitat for foraging White-breasted Nuthatches,
one of which posed for a pleasant photo.
**Cathy and Isabelle Simon were in Shediac on Saturday
in celebration of the Great Backyard Bird Count. They spotted American Black
Ducks, Mallard Ducks, Common Merganser, Barrow’s Goldeneye, American Crows, and
Herring Gulls. The most exciting was watching a female Common Merganser catch
a very large fish with a Herring Gull attempting to steal it.
(Editor’s note: the identity of the fish prey is
confirmed as Atlantic Tomcod by Alyre Chiasson. This species spawns this time of year)
**On Saturday morning, Brian Stone noticed 3 Bald
Eagles circling his home low overhead for a few minutes. Two were adults
and one was juvenile. By the time he got the camera unpacked, the 2 adults had
gone out of sight and just the juvenile was still there circling to capture
some nice flight photos.
Brian also came across a large tree that had fractured
during high winds. It had fractured at the site of a woodpecker cavity (red
dot) which appeared to weaken the tree at that point. This similar scenario
happened in my own yard after a Pileated Woodpecker had created a significant
cavity in a dying tree. That tree fell on power lines.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
