NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Jan 29, 2023
To respond by e-mail, please address
your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo
labelling.
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
** Louise
Nichols sends some photos she took on the Nature Moncton wharf tour on
Saturday. Most of the ducks seen were too far out for photos due to the
wide expanses of open water still present with birding scopes necessary to get
good views at some stops. The birds may have been far out, but it turned out to
be a bright sunny day with lots of fellowship, and all thanks to Roger LeBlanc
for leading the pack for a pleasant outing.
Louise sends
a selection of photos from Cocagne bridge where the action was a bit closer,
including an unexpected Hooded Merganser. Louise also attaches a
few photos of an interesting ice formation, called pancake ice, seen at the
St. Thomas wharf.
Pancake Ice
Predominantly circular pieces of ice 30 cm to 3 m in diameter, up to 10 cm in
thickness, with raised rims due to the pieces striking against one another. It
may form on a slight swell from grease ice, shuga or slush or as a result of
the breaking of ice rind, nilas or, under severe conditions of swell or waves,
of grey ice. It also sometimes forms at some depth at an interface between
water bodies of different physical characteristics where it floats to the
surface. It may rapidly form over wide areas of water.
**Jim
Wilson points out a very interesting, additional labelling needed for a bird on
the January 26 edition that none of the rest of us picked up on. Jim noticed that Jamie Burris’
photo on January 26th of a Dark-eyed Junco is a first-year
‘Oregon’ subspecies of the Dark-eyed Junco from western North America.
Thank you, Jim, for detecting that! Jamie’s photo is reattached today as well
as corrected on the January 26 edition.
Jim also
points out he looked closely at the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker to be sure
it was not a Red-naped Sapsucker from the West, but it checks out as a
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Jim always checks winter sapsuckers just in case, as
it is quite uncommon to have a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker overwintering in New
Brunswick.
**Lynne Renton has a White-tailed
Deer doe that had a late birth of 2 fawns in November travelling in a field near her Wheaton Setttlement area home. November is a late date
for a White-tailed Deer to give birth. She gave birth to 2 fawns but
recently Lynne is seeing only the one fawn with its mother, often seen in
the field.
Nelson Poirier
Nature
Moncton
.%20JAN%2020,%202023.%20JAMIE%20BURRIS.JPG)
.%20JAN.%2028,%202023.%20LOUISE%20NICHOLS.JPG)
.%20JAN%2028,%202023.%20LYNNE%20RENTON.jpg)
