Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 4 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Dec 4, 2022

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**On Wednesday, November 30, 2022, Brian Coyle went out to a couple of his trail cameras that are close to his home.

Imagine Brian’s excitement to have a mother Bobcat and her two kittens show up at an overgrown rock pile, not 500 meters from his home! The kittens in Brian’s video would be young-of-the-year born in early spring that will stay with their mother until late January or into February when the female will come into estrus and very abruptly advise her teenage kittens to head out and fend for themselves.

Take a look at the action in this special video at the link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpa5itucu8wqsbn/DSCF0003%20-%20Copy%20%284%29.AVI?dl=0

If this wasn't exciting enough, on Thursday, December 1, 2022, at around 2:00 p.m. Brian was sitting on a bench in his backyard, watching a YouTube video on his phone, when a lone crow began to caw incessantly from the top of a large spruce tree at the treeline along the northern edge of his property.

He paused the video and looked in that direction to see the mother Bobcat and her two kittens making their way through his backyard along the tree line! Brian was quite certain that it was the same trio that was on the video. Because of the wind direction and Brian sitting still, they never were aware of his presence and casually trotted off into the woods behind his house. No photos, unfortunately.

**Gordon Rattray had a regular visit on Saturday from a Brown Creeper that has made many visits this fall. On Saturday it stayed in place long enough for an excellent photo of this very special little bird.

**Aldo Dorio has been enjoying a pleasant diversity of coastal birds off the Neguac wharf recently.

Aldo photographed a Common Loon in winter plumage, a Black Guillemot in winter plumage, Red-throated Loon in winter plumage, and Long-tailed Ducks in winter plumage.

(Editor’s note: It is not often we get to see Black Guillemot along the Northumberland shoreline. Aldo was lucky to get an extended wing photo). Gilles Belliveau comments:

Not sure how regularly in the northern part of the province, but he has seen them a few times over the years in spring and fall migration in southeastern NB. Gilles has also seen them at Cap Lumiere a few times in winter and many years ago there were … one or two that were seen among the ice flows in Cap Pele in two different winters.

**Jane LeBlanc had a small flock of Pine Siskins arrive on Saturday with a small flock of American Goldfinches. She comments it has been several years since she's had this species in her St. Martins yard.

**On Friday Brian Stone once again visited the wharves and viewing spots along the coast from Cap Lumiere to Shediac. At Cap Lumiere, the resident Harlequin Ducks were grouped in two pairs of male and female and were still present in the enclosed breakwater area. Outside the breakwater and down along the coast a short distance was more than a dozen Red-throated Loons that were just a bit too distant to encourage photography.

Along the highway on the way to Cap Lumiere a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a pole long enough for Brian to get a photo and then a few flight photos.

At Bouctouche, a Bald Eagle scanned the water from a high vantage point in its favourite tree near the Visitor Center but flew when it realized it was being photographed. Also flying in the area was a large group of Common Eiders that flew in a recognizably different pattern than geese.

In the Cocagne area a Double-crested Cormorant, a male Long-tailed Duck, and a male Common Eider finished off the photo album for the day.

**Bob Blake maintains daily weather statistics from his Second North River home including morning temperature, daily high temperature, and monthly precipitation. Bob has prepared a table comparing November 2022 with November 2021.

Bob’s table reflects the beautiful temperatures we enjoyed in November 2022 and the lesser amount of precipitation.

It is attached below:

2021

2022

morning temperatures

daily highs and rainfall

morning temperatures

daily highs and rainfall

+11-1 day

+10-2

+7-1

+6-2