Nature Moncton Nature News: August 21 2022

August 21, 2022 (Sunday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**Two weekends ago, Andrew Darcy had sporadically decided he was going to go check out Cavendish Beach in PEI for the weekend, and the day before he was planning on heading over to the island, PEI's first ever confirmed GREY HERON was found by Vanessa Bonnyman & Melanie McCarthy at Covehead Marsh. It was a tense 24 hours waiting to get there, but he had to go see this bird! Luckily upon arrival, there was one birder at the location who was, as he put it, "75% sure he had the bird in his scope” but couldn't be certain as it was quite a distance out and the light and heat shimmer didn't not make things easier. They watched the bird for a good hour or so and just as they were going to call it quits, the bird started to rouse. It ruffled its feathers and took flight. At that moment, as they both saw the bird in flight, next to a Great Blue Heron, and were sure they had the bird. It was quite an exciting and memorable bird for sure! The birds landed closer to them, and they got to watch the birds forage for the next 30 minutes or so, until the herons once again took flight further into the marsh. The distance and lighting made for difficult photo opportunities but Andrew did manage to get a few that were good enough for record photos and show the smaller size, shorter neck, lighter grey coloured back, white thighs, and white crescent on shoulder, when compared to a Great Blue Heron. He was lucky that he ran into Burke Korol with his scope or he would have had a very hard time locating the bird. Andrew includes some scope video footage as well. Check that out at the link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vc1vco3led75p3w/VID_37200212_233115_753.mp4?dl=0

The Grey Heron is native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and parts of Africa and is a very rare visitor to Canada.

**John Inman had an American Kestrel drop by his Harvey, Albert County yard to check out meal options as well is a young-of-the-year Chestnut-sided Warbler.

John had a pair Northern Cardinals visit his yard and photographed a male, but the female chose to stay well hidden for a photo. John has not seen any young-of-the-year cardinals but Shannon Inman was sure she had seen 2 male Northern Cardinals recently.

**Aldo Dorio photographed an Osprey on the beach area at Hay Island. We don’t often see an Osprey perched on the ground.

Aldo also photographed a Common Yellowthroat Warbler. A consultation with Gilles Belliveau leads us to suspect it to be a young male.

**Daryl Doucette was in the Johnson’s Mills area and had a Cedar Waxwing strike his car. He picked it up from the road and held it in his hand for 10 minutes after which it flew off into a tree appearing to survive the accident unscathed.

**Brian Stone noticed another (or the same one as earlier?) Katydid on the side of his front door on Friday morning. Whenever one is there, it is always in the same spot so it must be a good place for some reason.

In his back yard a young-of-the-year Song Sparrow and a young-of-the-year American Robin were foraging while being coached by adults.

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com