NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Feb 28, 2022 (Monday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Andrew Darcy has noticed the tracks and trails of what appears to be a very busy weasel around his Dieppe yard. He has only noticed them since the recent light snowfall and is noting them around birdseed and around outbuildings. There are dive holes into the snow periodically, typical of the weasel. It is assumedly attracted to shrews or voles that may be around the birdseed. Several photos are attached.
Andrew
also noticed the tracks of a Snowshoe Hare nearby which may not have
been wise on the part of the hare.
**Cathy Simon and family visited Cap
Brulé for a second time in hopes of better identifying some Iceland Gulls. With
the help of nearby Herring Gulls, American Crows, and American Black
Ducks to use as a size comparison, they were happy to identify several
adult and one 1st winter Iceland Gull. Cathie had to get her
photographs at the limit of her camera's zoom lens, but the clean primary projection
of the primary feathers over the tail show no evidence of black apical spots. One gull does show a bit of grey markings on the primary projection which
is within the variability of this gull.
Thank you to Nelson for pointing us in
the right direction to an online gull identification webinar put on by Nature
NL just last week!
**Brian
Stone is on an assignment to get photos of gulls to show different stages of
development and some key features to help in identification.
The
3 photos of a 2nd winter Herring Gull show some features to
note. A 1st winter Herring Gull would be totally brown; however, this
bird shows grey in the scapular/mantle area and the bill appears dark only in the
distal half to suggest its 2nd winter of maturity. The flight photo shows the pale panel (arrow) in the flight
feathers of the wing which is specific to the Herring Gull in 1st
and 2nd winter plumage.
Another
photo shows an adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull showing the yellow
legs and very dark grey mantle (not black). The white apical spots (3 arrows)
show as can similarly be seen in other large gulls by 3rd winter
plumage and adult plumage. The Lesser Black-backed Gulls we see in New
Brunswick, especially in early spring in significant numbers, are assumed to
be passing through to breed in Greenland.
Two
other photos show an adult Ring-billed Gull nicely showing the typical
arrangement of the white windows in primary feathers P9 and P10, the yellow
legs, and the ringed bill.
All
of our larger adult resident gulls show a streaked head in winter with the
exception of the Great Black-backed Gull where the head is clean white.
Gull photos can sometimes be tricky, so comments or
corrections are welcomed.
**Brian sends more photos from his outing to
Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth on Saturday. The pond was full of a hundred or
more ducks of all varieties. Most prevalent were male and female Mallard
Ducks with at least a dozen male and female Ring-necked Ducks among
them. One of the male Ring-necked Ducks was gulping down large snails from the
bottom of the pond. Several American Wigeons of both genders were also
in the group along with 4 or more different versions of Hybrid Mallards.
The Domestic Duck escapee is still present and seemingly happy and
healthy after the worst of the winter is (hopefully) past. (Editors note: it
would appear that some of the Mallard Duck hybrids are predominantly with the
Black Duck, but others suggest other duck species may be involved or there are
Mallard X Black Duck F2 generations or back crosses as the Mallard X Black Duck
hybrid is fertile).
Brian also
sends a few more gull images for identification practice which we will deal
with tomorrow, so folks do not get “gulled out” in today’s edition!
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
