NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
March 2,
2022 (Wednesday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
** We don’t see much of the Fisher in Southeastern New Brunswick, but its presence becomes more common as one moves more northerly in New Brunswick, especially in the northern half of the province.
Phil Riebel and Pam Waters are very fortunate to have
one roaming a wooded area behind their Miramichi home. Phil was able to get
some excellent video footage of the animal going about his mission which he
shares at the link below.
Make sure to watch the video right to the end as it
captures the bounding travel method of this animal. The Fisher is an arboreal
animal that spends most of his time in trees so seeing footage of it travelling
on the ground is special.
https://philriebelphotography.smugmug.com/Camera-Trap/Fisher/n-SHS85c/i-Rhkm7sp/A
Phil was also able to get clear photos of the tracks
of the animal in his backyard area to nicely show the 5 footpads and rounded
imprint as well is a photo of an illustration of the Fisher tracks from a field
guide.
**Yolande LeBlanc in Memramcook saw her 2 Brown
Creepers together again on Monday: one on each side of the tree holding the
peanut butter log. She had reloaded the peanut butter and walked back 30 feet
and they both came down on the tree. She had seen 2 in January, and suspected
they were both still present, but don't often see them together. They were
waiting for the peanut butter. No camera!
**Brian Stone checked out McCormacks Beach Provincial
Park at Eastern Passage just outside Dartmouth and photographed a 3rd
winter Herring Gull dropping shellfish from a height to break it open so
it could have some lunch. It took only two drops to achieve success and it
repeated the action with several other mollusks while Brian watched. He wonders
how many it would take to make a decent meal for the gull.
(Editors
note: for gull interests, we’re labelling the gull as a 3rd winter bird for the
following reasons which are arrowed:
-only
remaining prominent brown is in the greater coverts
-mantle and
remainder of coverts grey
-apical
spots showing in primary projection
-eye is yellow
-remnant
tail band
-black
smudge at the apex of bill
**Ron Arsenault leaves an interesting comment about
the female Mallard Duck X Black Duck hybrid photo that appeared in a
recent edition which is reattached today.
Quoting Ron
“Unlike their male
counterparts, these female hybrids are very rarely reported on the various
bird groups, at least the ones that I read on a regular basis. This,
despite the fact that according to research papers that I have read, females
typically account for 40% of the hybrid Mallard X Black population. On
the other hand, drakes of this hybrid seem to be significantly over-reported, with a significant number of Mallard drakes with a plumage anomaly of
any type, including moulting birds, being reported or suggested as a
hybrid.”
**Ron and
others also have commented that the snail being consumed in the photo of the Ring-necked
Duck is the introduced ‘Chinese
Mystery Snail’ (Cipangopaludina
chinensis), found in various lakes and ponds in the Halifax area, mostly on the
Dartmouth side. There are also a number of records from the Sackville Waterfowl
Park and the Tantramar Wetland Centre on the other side of the highway.
**We
have many excellent photo contributions to Nature News. Susan Atkinson advises
that Ducks Unlimited is soliciting photos for their calendar. If anyone is
interested in contributing, see the attachment below:
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Our
2023 Atlantic Conservation Calendar needs your help!
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Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
