NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
March 8,
2022 (Tuesday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Louise Nichols was walking in the woods on their Aulac property on Tuesday when she noticed there were some White-winged Crossbills about. At one point, they all took flight and she realized there were about 50 of them. As she continued walking, they remained in the woods, flying from treetop to treetop, foraging on the cones. Louise got a few pictures of some crossbills at the top of one spruce tree. The photos show the heavy cone crop that hangs from some of the trees, which was being taken advantage of by the crossbills.
**Georges Brun thought the
Starlings were imitating a new song but not so. It was a male
Northern Cardinal on a maple tree aside his Churchill St. home in Moncton on Monday.
The buds seemed to be experiencing seasonal swelling. Also, a male American
Robin and Mourning Dove were vocalizing. Great to hear some
songbirds other than Crows and Starlings.
**Yolande LeBlanc in Memramcook reports that she heard her Northern Cardinals vocalizing on Monday. Let’s hope more folks in the area get to hear them soon as well.
**Brian Stone photographed a Red Squirrel licking
sap from the branches of his back yard maple tree on Monday morning and took it
to be a sign that spring was on the way. He then went for a short walk in
Mapleton Park and photographed some of the many Mallard Ducks still
populating the Gorge Rd. end of the park. Among them was an uncommon Intersex
Mallard Duck showing features of both male and female ducks. Also present
was a male American Wigeon Duck hiding in the crowd.
Along the
trails Brian was lucky enough to find a cooperative Brown Creeper
foraging on some of the older trees in the park. A male Downy Woodpecker
was searching for food in the same trees and posed willingly for a few photos.
**Jean
Renton often comes up with new ideas to please her bird feeder entourage. Her
newest trial is hanging a cup by the handle and placing peanut butter in it. Jean
comments it has become very popular with Black-capped Chickadees, as well as Hairy
and Downy Woodpeckers. These species seem to be able to cling on to the cup and
feed freely whether there is a foliage footage nearby or not. The marauding
starlings find it difficult to access.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
