Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 12 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Dec 12, 2022

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**There will be some last-minute changes for tomorrow night’s Nature Moncton meeting as the presenter’s family has come down with Covid. Alternative plans will be worked on today and announced ASAP.

** Saturday was a major migration day for ducks over the Memramcook river valley. Yolande LeBlanc saw 5 different groups of ducks of different species, flying south over the valley. The size of the birds differed per flock, different flight patterns, from morning to late afternoon. All heading south! The birds were too fast and far for Yolande to be certain of the identification.

On Sunday, Yolande did see a flock of 600-700 birds that she was certain were Common Eider.

**Jamie Burris does not have birdfeeders out at the moment but leaves his flowering garden plants such as Black-eyed Susan which is very attractive to American Goldfinch as Jamie’s photo shows.

Jamie also still has a Northern Cardinal as well as a Northern Flicker hoping they will stay to be counted this weekend.

**Gordon Rattray went on Sunday to clean the Tree Swallow boxes he had placed in the Hillsborough area. Gordon has 6 boxes in Hillsborough; 4 boxes showed successful Tree Swallow nests. One box had a partial Tree Swallow nest but was abandoned before it was completed. The sixth box Gordon checked was in the area of the lagoon and had a large nest in it that seemed to be of mostly grass construction. The nesting materials were clean which may indicate it did not get used after construction. (Editor’s note: I found this type of nest in a swallow box that turned out to be a Flying Squirrel. I'm assuming there is a possibility Deer Mice may produce a similar winter nest?)

While at the lagoon area Gordon had an overflight of a Great Blue Heron and a distant fly-pass of a hawk-- probably a Red-tailed Hawk. Gordon has documentary photos of these two birds.

At home in Weldon, Gordon had an American Robin visiting all day, staying near a wet spot in the yard; it was joined by a juvenile White-throated Sparrow.

**European Starlings are an invasive species that are making use of man-made structures to augment their numbers.

At a shopping mall at Place St-Pierre in Caraquet, Frank Branch noted Starlings arriving from all directions and landing in a group on the hydro lines across the street counting well over 200. They were leaving the lines and entering a sign tower. All went in and the last one entered at 4:31 P.M. Frank photographed the activity.

Frank comments “are there other Starling towers in N.B.?” (Editor’s note: I have noted them making extensive use of uncapped pipes of light standards for nesting opportunities)

**Aldo Dorio photographed a first winter Common Goldeneye off Hay Island on Sunday. The Common Goldeneye does not mature until the second year of life.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton