Nature Moncton Nature News: April 2 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 2, 2022 (Saturday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**The editor would like to take a moment to express thanks and appreciation for the effort of Louise Nichols who reviews this blog after it is published each day to help correct errors in punctuation and other boo-boos. Thank you, Louise!

**Richard Blaquiere got a photo that shows a portion of the more than 50 Turkey Vultures observed at the Hampton lagoon Friday morning.

A 1st-winter Iceland Gull was also present to provide an excellent full-wing view. (Editor’s note: this gull species will soon be leaving us for breeding grounds in the North to vacation with us again next winter).

All the ponds are now ice-free at the Hampton Lagoon and promptly filling up with a pleasing variety of ducks.

This lagoon will be attracting a diversity of waterfowl, gulls, and other surprises particularly over the next few months. We will all look forward to reports from Richard with what he is seeing at this popular birding spot.

**Aldo Dorio was able to photograph one lone male Common Goldeneye off Hay Island on Saturday morning as more and more open water is appearing.

**Brian Stone went for a long drive on Friday to Cape Tormentine, with several stops along the way. At Jolicure, Brian stopped to check on the Sandhill Cranes and saw one close to the main road. Another was spotted far up in the field but out of photography range. No sign of the third one but it was likely still in the area somewhere.

Along Route 960 Brian came across Nelson Poirier's favourite Skunk Cabbage patch and photographed several of the interesting plants. (Editor’s note: a few of Brian’s photos show how this charismatic plant melts any snow around it to emerge and create its own ‘stovepipe’)

A few more pictures from the trip will be shared tomorrow.

**Bob Blake maintains daily temperatures and monthly precipitation from his Second North River home and compares those records of March 2021 with March 2022. Bob’s tabular records are attached below as he forwarded them. The blend of precipitation was somewhat different for us this past March from last March.

2021

2022

morning temperatures

daily highs and rainfall

morning temperatures

daily highs and rainfall

-15-1 day

-13-1

-12-2

-11-2

-10-3

-9-2

-7-2

-5-2

-3-2

2-1

-1-1

0-1

+1-4

+2-1

+3-1

+4-2

+15-3

+14-2

+13-1

+11-1

+9-2

+8-1

+7-1

+6-3

+4-2

+2-2

11 cms. snow

73 mms. rain

-17-1

-15-1

-9-1

-8-2

-7-1

-6-1

-5-2

-4-1

-3-2

-2-2

-1-3

0-3

+1-4

+2-4

+3-1

+4-1

+6-1

+13-1

+9-2

+7-9

+6-4

+5-1

+4-7

+1-2

30 cms. snow

32 mms. rain

**The Nature Moncton April meeting write-up was not available to be included with the New Brunswick Environmental Network listing of April Events recently published. It is attached below with the join-up link and will be published again near the event date.

NATURE MONCTON APRIL MEETING

April 19^th, 2022, at 7:00 PM

Virtual Meeting

Leach’s Storm Petrel in Atlantic Canada: Status, Research, and Conservation

Presenter: Laura McFarlane Tranquilla

Leach’s Storm Petrels are robin-sized, dusky-grey seabirds that spend nearly all their lives far out to sea, coming to offshore colonies during the summer months to lay eggs and raise chicks. This seabird has a global distribution, occurring in both Pacific and Atlantic oceans; and we can be proud that the world’s largest colony, at ~2 million pairs, is in Atlantic Canada, on Newfoundland’s Baccalieu Island. However, despite being one of the most common seabirds in the North Atlantic, Leach’s storm petrel populations are in trouble. Declines on Baccalieu Island (estimated ~ 42% decline, from 3.4 to 1.9 million pairs over 29 years) and at other colonies in the North Atlantic have caused the species to be listed in 2016 on the IUCN red list as “vulnerable” , and as “threatened” in 2019 with COSEWIC (2020). The trouble is, though the species faces a number of threats, there is no single threat that stands out to explain this dramatic decline. This talk outlines the biology of Leach’s Storm Petrels, the conservation threats they face, and ongoing efforts in Atlantic Canada to study and monitor this interesting seabird.

Join at the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86309429728?pwd=R2dRZkxscnA2MEdBd2lWcUxiWTBlQT09

All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.