Nature Moncton Nature News: November 30 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

November 30, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

** Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins has an outdoor 'photo frame on a tripod' that husband Ed made, and she dresses it for the seasons. For winter, she put cedar and pine boughs, pine cones, and rose hips around it. She then placed a suet feeder in it and puts sunflower seeds out daily. On Tuesday, she moved it so she could take photos from inside the house so as not to disturb the birds. One of the first patrons was the male Northern Cardinal (two females are in the yard as well). Also in the yard are the regulars, as well as American Goldfinches, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

As the weather gets colder, she will put suet and peanut butter in the cones to add to the buffet.

(Editor’s note: Jane’s photo of the female Northern Cardinal is showing some black on the bill. One would wonder if this may be a young-of-the-year bird where the bill is not completed taking on the adult red bill colour.)

**The Northern Goshawk that Fred and Lynn Dube have been seeing recently several times in their Lower Coverdale yard was caught on their trail camera coming down on a male Mallard Duck. The colour of the hawk is light, but a great action shot for a trail camera to catch.

** Lynda LeClerc sends a photo of an insect that was pestering her son’s dog in Mascouche PQ last month. It has been sticking on the dog’s feet and it was irritating the dog and travels on the dog's paws into the house.

BugGuide has identified it as the Pale Green Assassin Bug (Zelus nymph) averaging 12-18 mm in length.

Assassin bugs are not aggressive but will bite if handled or accidentally pressed against the skin. The bites can be quite painful immediately, with some pain and swelling persisting for a day or two.

**Brian Stone returned to the Irving Eco Center outside Bouctouche on Wednesday to try and relocate the White-eyed Vireo that has been visiting the site since last Sunday. When Brian saw it briefly on Monday, he didn't manage to get a photo so he was hoping for a more satisfactory result this time. As Brian arrived, he saw that birder Mitch Doucet was there, having just arrived himself. As Brian was trying to throw on his winter coat in the expectation of another long, cold birding stakeout Mitch informed him that the bird was right there waiting for them and within 15 minutes Brian had all the photos he needed and was on his way.

Judy Cairns also got some beautiful pictures of the White-eyed Vireo on Tuesday showing it appearing to have a seed/bud in its bill. Some of the photos clearly show the red buds of the Bayberry bush which would be quite common in this coastal area. It would be interesting to know if this is what has held this special bird in the area for several days. The female Bayberry bush produces a greyish berry as well as plump red buds. If it was an item of interest, only the vireo knows for sure!

**Fred Richards, Nelson Poirier, and George Thompson were on the roof of Assumption Place in Moncton on Tuesday checking out the Peregrine Falcon nest box there. It was a very cool and windy spot!

While checking the spot, 2 Peregrine Falcons did fly passes keeping an eye on things. Staff photographer Brian Stone was in the background with the camera aimed to get some spectacular photos of their interest in the rooftop snoopers!

**We have made a few changes to the Nature News blog page and reversed some of the changes made a few days ago at readers' requests and thank readers for their comments on changes, or any other item they would wish to comment on.

The changes in today’s edition include:

•an introductory paragraph encouraging anyone anywhere in New Brunswick or elsewhere to submit their nature observations and photographs to the fresh daily editions.

• Clickable links are added to the sidebar to visit other nature sites.

• Scrolling down below the fresh daily addition will bring up three past editions.

• The sidebar with archives has been added back.

• As always, one can type any item into the search bar on the top left which will bring up all past editions that mention that item.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton