Nature Moncton Nature News: April 16 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 16, 2022 (Saturday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**The Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterfly is one of the small handful of butterflies that overwinter as an adult in New Brunswick which means it is ready to take flight the first warm days of spring.

Anne Assaff captured a beautiful open wing photo of a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterfly on April 6 at Quarryville approximately 20 km from Miramichi city.

This butterfly is not considered rare in New Brunswick but is one not commonly found.

** Gordon Rattray had a visit from 2 male Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers on Friday. They spent some time on the peanut butter, but one chose to impress a lady with his drumming technique using the eave trough over the bedroom window. Great alarm clock! On Thursday Gordon observed Tree Swallows in Hillsborough near some of his nesting boxes. When they were cleaned last fall, all had successful nests.

**Andrew Darcy enjoyed a Thursday evening amphibian experience and I am quoting Andrew below as he expressed it so well - rather like being there along with him!

“Blue-spotted (Ambystoma laterale) and Spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) from late Friday night (14/04/2022) at a pond I've been watching for two springs in Moncton, New Brunswick. Temperature around 5 °C with light rain. Was super excited to finally catch up with these guys this year! Looked for them 01/04/2022 but the pond was mostly still frozen and didn't see any activity. Visited again in the day on 13/04/2022 and the pond was completely open and saw several Blue-spotted salamander egg masses but no salamanders. I knew Thursday night would be a perfect evening for some activity and they did not disappoint (saw approximately 15 Spotted and 5 Blue-spotted Salamanders). I also heard a troup of Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus), Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), and saw a very large unfortunately DOR (dead on road) Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens). Heard several American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) calling as well. Overall was a fantastic nocturnal adventure.”

Andrew was able to capture some video footage that is shared at the links below:

Video 1: Blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qhevm1ny4riu7z/20220415_003711.mp4?dl=0

Video 2, 3, 4, and 5: Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fj758okz32kucr/20220415_002820.mp4?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pjgwb4xy16g0m9x/20220415_005043.mp4?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7ir55y5cumeb8q/20220415_005947.mp4?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u04wpyebvs2nc1r/20220415_010113.mp4?dl=0

Video 6: Wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxlewggboxgeo4v/20220415_003318.mp4?dl=0

**Eric Wilson lives beside the NB Casino in Moncton North living in an area with remnant forest and fields.

On Thursday evening, a pair of Wood Ducks began energetically calling and flying around his driveway and front woods. They were evidently looking for a nesting site. The male was flying, landing, and perching on branches about 18 feet up apparently inspecting some Pileated Woodpecker cavities outside his front door!

Eric got a Wood Duck nest box that is going up this weekend.

Eric also spotted a Northern Harrier on Friday up the street from his home.

**Debbie Batog has had a pair of Grey Squirrels arrive to her McKees Mills yard to quickly find the birdfeeders. The Grey Squirrel seems to be expanding in number all over New Brunswick and can become a challenge in birdfeeder yards.

**Stella and Jean-Paul LeBlanc had a pair of House Sparrows appear in their Bouctouche yard on Friday which they have not seen before in their yard.

The House Sparrow population has dramatically dropped in New Brunswick over the past 20 years which is good news for Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds as the non-native House Sparrow will readily outcompete these two species.

** Karen and Jamie Burris cleaned out the 3 nest boxes they had erected at Turtle Creek. One box had just nesting material, the next one had nesting material and one egg and the 3rd box had 3 expired chicks and 1 egg. They wonder what happened for them to abandon the nests.

This was a very common finding in nest boxes that were checked last fall and this spring in Southeast New Brunswick. The general thinking is that it was due to a cold period just as nesting was getting underway. This did not seem to have been the case in the Miramichi area. However, it was noted that nesting seemed to start later than usual in that area which may have saved the day for the Tree Swallow population in that area.

Jamie also shares some interesting information he came across on the Common Grackle which he gleaned from Roby Tufts book “Some Common Birds of Nova Scotia” 1934 edition. I'm quoting Jamie’s comments directly below:

“Here we have the Common Grackle. A bird that arrives here around mid March and departs to the southern US in November. We see it in parks, backyards and in the countryside.

Originally a western species it extended its range eastward around 1893/94 and is now as common as the American Robin.

It feeds on insects, fruits, seeds and even other bird’s eggs and chicks.

They like to nest in evergreen trees with a nest made of twigs, grass, reeds, and mud in which they lay 5 to 6 greenish blue and brown eggs.”

**There have been reports of the spring arrival of Brown-headed Cowbirds. Nelson Poirier had his first yard arrival of this species on Friday. They sought out the white millet as their food of choice.

It was interesting to note in an earlier edition that Dwaine Oakley on PEI had a significant number of this species at his feeder yard all winter.

**There are 5 newly minted Nature Moncton nest boxes left for distribution. If anyone would like some, send a note to editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton