NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
November 4,
2023
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Edited by
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Louise Nichols checked her trail cam on Thursday to find the
area where the cam was located was fairly active over the last couple of
weeks. She had brief videos of Raccoons, Snowshoe Hares, Red Squirrels,
a Ruffed Grouse and a White-tailed Deer. She also go two interesting
videos of a Bobcat scratching the ground, seemingly trying to leave its
scent. Louise notes that she had never noticed before that there are
black stripes on the back of the Bobcat's legs. One other video shows
what looks to be a small owl, flying very fast in front of the camera.
Louise wonders if it could be a Northern Saw-whet owl. The videos
of the Bobcat and the owl can be viewed at the following links:
In the bird
video, by holding the cursor on the line running across the bottom one can slow
up the action and at one point can see a flattened face, feathered legs, broad
wings, and outstretched talons as if ready to strike prey. A Northern Saw-whet
owl has to be a rule out.
The Bobcat
video also clearly shows the bicoloured tail tip of the Bobcat versus the
totally black tail tip of the Lynx. Other ID features are also present, but this
small point is always definitive when it can be seen.
**Spending
a moment looking at a cloudy sky rarely fails to give some interesting
formations. Daryl Doucette took note of these different formations on Friday
to capture a photo of one.
**On Thursday, Brian Stone trekked back out to Cape
Jourimain to try to complete his photo collection that missed a couple birds at
last Saturday's Nature Moncton outing.
With the
help of a couple birders that were already present when he got there Brian
located the elusive Lark Sparrow that was feeding at the side of the
parking lot. At least 2 Field Sparrows were also there foraging in the
grass with the Lark Sparrow, but Brian missed his opportunity to photograph
them until later in the day when he used his car as a blind and waited
patiently for the hungry birds to return to the grass at the edge of the
parking lot.
(Editor's note: Brian's photos of the Field Sparrow nicely show the necessary ID features of a white eye ring, pink bill, pink legs, and double wing bars.)
Brian also walked the Lighthouse Trail at the cape and added a Song Sparrow, a White-throated Sparrow, an American Robin, and a distant Surf Scoter to his photo list.
Brian stopped in at Cape Tormentine on his way
home and found a Horned Grebe, a pair of Long-tailed Ducks, a Common
Eider Duck, and a Great Blue Heron to photograph as well.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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