Nature Moncton Nature News: June 8 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 8, 2022 (Wednesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**While Peter Gadd was on Hay Island Tuesday morning, 3 shorebirds flew along the beach towards him and very cooperatively landed a few feet away and continued their feeding. This is the first time Peter has seen Red Knots in the spring and suspect they are much less likely to dawdle along their way to the northern breeding grounds as they sometimes do on the return trip later in the year. Also, this is the first time Peter has seen the red colour so distinctly.

On another note, Nature Miramichi members had a visit to Miramichi Marsh Tuesday evening and discovered a family of 9 Ring-necked Ducklings with their mom. Someone noticed some commotion in the middle of the pond. The mother was fiercely attacking something low in the water and the ducklings, as they do, raced away to the shore for cover. At first, the observers wondered if there could there be an otter! It turns out the mother was very concerned about a partially submerged Pied-billed Grebe who had a nest nearby. The action continued for a number of minutes. At one point when the grebe was fully on top of the water the mother duck was perfectly calm but when the grebe submerged, she went back into her frenzied attack. After perhaps 4 minutes or so calm was restored, and the duck family re-united, but they didn’t hang around, motoring away briskly, all ducklings seemingly accounted for, not that ducks can count!

Sorry no photos of this.

**Georges Brun got some interesting photos near the bend of the Petitcodiac River recently. A significantly sized flock of Common Eider were floating on the river, most of which appeared to be bachelor males with their female mates now tending nests on their own.

A Herring Gull was enjoying a Common Shiner minnow lunch. Note the red tipped fins to suggest Common Shiner in breeding colours.

A Great Blue Heron had captured its lunch of a Gaspereau. A consult with Alyre Chiasson confirmed the catch as a Gaspereau saying “note the upturned mouth, forked tail, compressed body, but most importantly the dark spot behind the gills.”

**Jamie Burris has several recent photos to share.

Karen and Jamie made a few trips to the Turtle Creek marsh and the woods surrounding the area to do some birding. On the marsh they saw a Red-winged Blackbird singing and showing off his beautiful red wing epaulets looking for/impressing/defending a mate. As they entered the woods a Snowshoe Hare stayed frozen as they walked by snapping off a few photos. They seem to be up in numbers this year.

While in the woods, they encountered lots of migrating and common birds. Two different Chestnut-sided Warblers in an apple tree and a Red-eyed Vireo in another made for a great start. Further down the trail they encountered 2 Eastern Phoebe, an American Goldfinch and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A male Northern Flicker was very vocal and tapping at a fence post.

Jamie is also including a photo of a Barred Owl they encountered perched on a power line while driving the Niagara Rd. last week. Nice to see these birds so close without even leaving your car.

**David and Anita Cannon came across maple leaves showing red pinkish areas which called for a consult with Doug Hiltz at the Maritime School of Forest Technology. Doug’s excellent explanation is paraphrased below:

It appears to be galls caused by Erineum mites. There are many different varieties that have a lot of different appearances (bumps, blisters, fuzz, etc). On maples, they are usually dark crimson red and look more like velvet. What I see in your pictures (though clearly on maple) look more like the variety usually found on birches that are pink and can appear shiny. I’ve attached some photos that I know to be Erineum galls (including one I found of pink Erineum on maple and some close ups of the galls)

**We have our own version of Skunk Cabbage that pops out in New Brunswick as the snow recedes with several photos published in March/April on Nature News. There is also a version called Western skunk cabbage that grows in BC.

John Hamer, who follows Nature News, took photos of Western Skunk Cabbage on Vancouver Island recently at 3000-foot elevation.

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com