NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 12,
2022 (Thursday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Louise
Nichols joined several other birders Wednesday morning who followed up a report
of a Garganey at the Amherst sewage lagoons, just across the NB/NS
border. The duck was there when she arrived and was keeping company with
a small group of Blue-winged Teal. The Garganey seemed to follow
the teal, taking off when they did and landing wherever they landed as the
group moved between one impoundment to another. Louise and a few others
present were able to get good views of the bird, both on the water and in
flight.
Marc
LeBlanc spotted a 2nd Garganey Wednesday afternoon at the Dorchester lagoon --
or possibly the same?
On a
different note, Louise noticed some first-of-the-season Brown Elfin Butterflies
flying on their property in Aulac and got a photo.
** Word of the
male GARGANEY that was discovered at Amherst lagoons in Nova Scotia by
Zach Wile emerged on Tuesday morning and later that evening he was rediscovered
and confirmed by Zach, so Andrew Darcy says he had to go investigate. Andrew
got views of the bird chumming up with some BLUE-WINGED TEAL while
Andrew attempted to keep his distance, but the bird did flush as there was not
much cover and flew into the back lagoon. On Wednesday, while Marc LeBlanc was
on his way back from viewing the Amherst bird he stopped in at the Dorchester
lagoons and spotted another male GARGANEY!! Another day another GARGANEY ! The
jury is still out on whether it's the same bird or not but Andrew did go and
see the Dorchester bird as well and it was really cool to see this species in two
different provinces back to back ! A nice treat indeed.
On the way
home from the Amherst bird on Tuesday evening, Andrew stopped in at one of his warbler
spots off of Old Shediac Road in Memramcook and had great views of his first of
year NASHVILLE WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, and GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLET.
Further
down the road as it was starting to get dark, several SNOWSHOE HARE were
out and about and very active. (Editors note: note the ticks on the ears of the hare which are very commonly seen this time of year and are a species of tick host specific to the Snowshoe Hare) They were mostly in their brown summer coat now,
but their feet were still pale and retained the white winter coat colour.
Interesting to see the transitional phase.
** Judith
Dewar in Fredericton has had an interesting scenario where her yard Weeping
Willow has been being pruned seemingly day and night by something until a
neighbour crossing the yard spotted a Porcupine up in the tree to close
the case. It had not been seen in the tree during the day until Wednesday. Judith
comments “it’s not happened in the past 15 years she has lived there”.
This Porcupine
seems to have found a special treat that is not normally part of this animals
menu.
** Gordon Rattray visited several sites around Hillsborough on Wednesday, plant shopping. In Albert Mines, Gordon found a collection of Trout Lily and some Wild Strawberries.
In White Rock area Gordon had an Infant Moth land close by for a quick photo. (Editors note: this early spring flying small moth shows its brilliant underwing when in flight, otherwise it is hard to detect. It is often found around birch trees).
On a visit
to Gray’s Island, Gordon observed the Bald Eagle on the nest.
While there, Gordon was able to photograph a Red Oak.
**On Wednesday, John Inman in Harvey, Albert County had a Blue-headed Vireo and a bright White-throated Sparrow as well as a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrive to be photographed. An immature Bald Eagle popped by to check in on the action of Thursday morning.
** On Wednesday Brian Stone crossed the border and visited the Amherst water treatment lagoons in N.S. to view and photograph the Garganey Duck recently reported there. Along with the Garganey, Brian photographed one of the several Spotted Sandpipers and a Swamp Sparrow also present there. He also stopped in at the Arthur St. lagoon at Memramcook and got photos of one of the Tree Swallows and Savannah Sparrows now living there.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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