Nature Moncton Nature News: April 2 2023

April 2, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Andrew Darcy made a quick departure from the Birds, Birds, Birds event at Harvey Hall to chase -- guess what? .... a bird.

But a very special bird indeed and contrary to popular belief it was not an April Fools joke!

Marco Vachon found a spectacular all white hawk on Beaumont Road in Memramcook just North of Boudreau Village yesterday afternoon! After some debate about species, it was identified as a leucistic RED-TAILED HAWK after additional observation and diagnostic photos of the bird were taken. The bird is all white except for some slight black mottling and a black strip on its one wing, but the clincher for identification was the random 3 red feathers in between the all-white tail rectrices that can be seen in the attached photos. Along with the larger size of the bird (slightly bigger than the AMERICAN CROWS that were mobbing fairly constantly- hard to hide with an all-white plumage), this unique tail colouring gave a conclusive ID.

See video links below for some footage of the bird in flight and perched beneath a Crow.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p8kdc5vl74xsjne/20230401_151722.mp4?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l23a2yeb4u692rm/20230401_153014.mp4?dl=0

(Editor’s note: Andrew's great photos and videos of this beautiful creature are akin to being there!!).

**Jane Wood has had a pair of Northern Cardinals patronizing her Riverview feeder yard off and on most of the winter. They have started to sing their catchy vocalization! Lately (the last week or so), when they are present, the female has been sitting on Jane’s car's side mirror, then jumping down to flutter her wings at her mirror image, then lighting back on the car mirror. She does it over and over. She apparently thinks it's another bird challenging her territory. She has, at least on one occasion, kept it up for an hour. On Saturday, she is taking breaks between flutter sessions.

(Editor’s note: Jane’s comment about the female Northern Cardinal singing made the editor check the literature as he was not aware the female vocalized similar to the male. The literature suggested Jane is quite correct and the paragraph of literature is cited below. This is the editor’s newly acquired information of the day!!)

“Both male and female Northern Cardinals sing. The song is a loud string of clear down-slurred or two-parted whistles, often speeding up and ending in a slow trill. The songs typically last 2 to 3 seconds. Syllables can sound like the bird is singing cheer, cheer, cheer or birdie, birdie, birdie.”

**On March 21, Jane LeBlanc submitted a photo of a caterpillar we were not able to identify at the time. BugGuide has come to our assistance, and that photo is re-attached today.

It is the larval caterpillar of the Large Yellow Underwing moth (Noctua pronuba). This moth species does overwinter as a larval caterpillar and can become active at approximately 40° F and can vary considerably in colour. We normally see them as brown with black slashes; however, Jane’s specimen was pale yellow. They are sometimes referred to as winter cutworms. (Editor’s note: colour variations can sure throw a curveball, but now we know!).

**It’s unusual to have 2 leucistic Dark-eyed Juncos reported in two days with a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk to top it off.

Suzanne Rousseau photographed that second Dark-eyed Junco that arrived at her feeder yard in Sussex on Saturday.

**The Birds! Birds! Birds! event at the Harvey Community Hall went well on Saturday, with a large gathering of folk in spring mode.

Gordon Rattray and Denis Doucet gave 2 great presentations that were very well received and appreciated. Fred and Sue Richards tended a well-visited Nature Moncton table and were joined by several other very interesting displays with some photos attached from the day.

It was special that the organizers had VIP guest David Christie present to enjoy the day as well.

(Editor’s note: the deviled eggs were devilishly delicious!).

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton