Nature Moncton Nature News: November 22 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

November 22, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**A very pleasant thank you to Sharon Wolthers for joining the Nature Moncton meeting on Tuesday evening to share her experiences with enjoying certain wild edibles and learning how to appreciate them. Several of the plants Sharon mentioned are ones the group frequently encounters on field trips and Wednesday walks. I suspect Sharon’s words just may make us look at these plants a bit differently and be tempted to try a few. Another interesting point about her presentation is to keep watch on what plants tend to grow in the same spot such as Ostrich Fern fiddleheads and Stinging Nettle which are both choice edibles.

**Early Tuesday morning, John Inman had an adult Northern Goshawk appear in the aspens around his Harvey home. John comments, “You can tell when the adult shows as the crows and everything else leaves."

A female Evening Grosbeak dropped by with a banded leg that seemed to be affecting the foot.

John also had a new Rusty Blackbird come by that had a slightly different plumage from one that recently appeared. John as well got a photograph of one of his lingering Fox Sparrows, commenting that it’s hard to get photographs the past days with his patrons having to be on constant watch for the raptors that are constantly monitoring his yard.

**Louise and Glen Nichols were having lunch on Tuesday when some action entered the front yard. First, a Red-tailed Hawk flew in and landed on a Tamarack tree on the island in their pond. A couple of Blue Jays immediately harassed it, and it flew off, leaving no chance for a photo. A few minutes later, a Great Blue Heron flew into the pond. But the pond had a layer of ice on it, and Louise captured some photos of the heron standing on the ice. It looked as though it was trying to hunt in the pond, but its bill would have had to break through the ice to get at any prey. Perhaps time to head further south!

(Editor’s note: Louise’s photos seem to show the frustration of having a delicious lunch in front of you but not being able to get at it!)

**Cathy Simon recently visited the Zoo Ecomuseum in Montreal and shares a photo of a trio of ducks in their display.

There is a nice photo of a Canvasback Duck in the background having a snooze with a Mallard Duck in the centre; however it’s the duck in the foreground that had us all wondering “what’s the blend here?” That took some consultation to interpret and the comments are too good not to share.

Ron Arsenault has a particular interest in hybrid ducks and a lot of experience researching the topic so I am going to quote/paraphrase his response below:

To Ron, the duck in question looks like a hybrid between a Mallard and a Northern Pintail. It has the bill of a pintail, lighter-coloured breast, is smaller than the Mallard behind it, a duller green head and a longer tail typical of this hybrid. However, it differs from the typical FI hybrid between these two species in that there is no white on the neck, it has a shorter straight tail, and white on the rear flank is the same colour as the breast.

Despite these differences, Ron still thinks that this bird is a Mallard X Pintail hybrid. He has seen pictures of purported hybrids between these two species with no white on the neck and the white patch on the flank being the same colour as the breast. As for the tail, it is likely still growing and has yet to curl. Most hybrids are likely from late nests, the result of Mallard hens being occupied with tending their brood while the drakes are still seeking mating opportunities; thus, hybrids hatched last spring may be maturing somewhat later than one might expect.

Other possibilities that come to mind are that the hybrid is something other than F1 or that one of the parents is a domestic duck.

("Ecomuseum" gives the impression there might be captive ducks on site, perhaps including some exotic species?)

Gilles Belliveau also reviewed the photo and gave some beautifully presented thoughts again as paraphrased below:

I’m not certain that Mallard is one of the parents, but it could be. The white vertical line on the side of the body initially made Gilles wonder if Green-winged Teal could be one of the parents, but too many other features didn’t line up.

Gilles then realized that Wood Duck parentage could account for the white vertical line on the side, the dark back, the brown on the sides at the rear, and the elongated tail. Also, if you look carefully at the bill, you can even see a bit of reddish/purple tinge at the base and along the edge of the mandibles.

Gilles did a bit of searching and found many images of Wood Duck hybrids with various other species with many similar features, but none looked quite like this bird, though hybrids can be variable in appearance, so the same pairing could produce different-looking offspring with different traits.

Here’s a link to a page where a person who keeps waterfowl posted photos of several wood duck hybrids he has had in his collection over the years:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wood-duck-hybrids-pictures-including-mallard-x-wood-duck.756201/

So Gilles feels fairly confident that one of the parents is a Wood Duck but not certain what the second parent is (maybe Mallard, maybe something else)

(Editor’s note: this has led to a very interesting exchange of information and points of possibilities hybridization can generate. Thanks to Gilles and Ron for sharing their comments.)

**It's the time of year when large numbers of gulls begin to collect in certain parking lots around Saint John. On Monday, November 20, 2023, Richard Blaquiere stopped to look over the gulls roosting at the McAllister Place parking lot and noticed an adult Ring-billed Gull carrying a blue colour band. He managed to get a few clear photos of the band and reported it on the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) gull project website. The next day, Richard received information detailing the banding date and location, plus a summary of all the locations where this bird had been previously observed. From the list, it appears this bird has a particular fondness for Brooklyn in New York City.
The interesting travel itinerary of this gull appears in the photograph lineup below the photo of the gull!

Continuing the gull theme, Richard saw his first Iceland Gull of the season at the Hampton lagoon Tuesday morning, November 21, 2023.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton