November 12,
2023
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Edited by
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
** Deana and Peter
Gadd drove out to Escuminac Point Saturday afternoon, taking a chance on the
weather which turned out not to be particularly harsh.
Driving down the access road,
they were fortunate to spot a Northern Shrike that came in fairly close,
seemingly intent on smaller prey, when Peter was out of the car with his
camera. As the great photo shows, it was an immature bird showing barred underparts
and eye ring.
At Escuminac Point, the choppy sea was quite busy with ‘fishing birds’.
There was one male Harlequin duck, at least 3 Razorbills, 50 + Longtailed Ducks,
50 + Common Eider, 20+ Red-throated Loons, Black Scoters, White-winged Scoters,
and Surf Scoters, the latter two only providing a ‘fly-by.’ As well, of course, there were Great Black-backed, Herring Gulls and one Bonaparte’s Gull. Most of this activity
was off the actual point where the currents meet. Away from this area, a little
to the west was a single Red-necked Grebe. Unfortunately, the sea was choppy,
and birds were a little too distant for photos. Away from the water were quite
a few Dark-eyed Juncos in several places and a flock of 16 Snow Buntings.
They thought that they would not see any shorebirds Saturday,
but when they checked out the Escuminac Wharf as they were leaving, darting ‘willy-nilly’
along the asphalt surface were 2 Sanderlings. The tide was quite high, so
perhaps they thought they would have more luck there.
** Frank Branch photographed a
bird in Maisonette on Chemin Des Chalets Saturday in Caraquet that left both
Frank and the editor wavering between a few choices of identification. Gilles Belliveau was consulted and he advised it to be a Pine Warbler, and
Frank Branch was leaning to that identification as well.
(Editor’s note: one photo seems like a good match for Pine Warbler, but
the other two would seem much more brightly plumaged than expected. Majority
wins and nice photos.)
**John Inman photographed a very colourful fly outside his Harvey window
back in July that I suspect most of us would be unfamiliar with.
It took a long time to get confirmation, but BugGuide recently identified
it as a fly of the Tephritis genus.
Nelson
Poirier
Nature Moncton
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