Nature Moncton Nature News: December 17 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

December 17, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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**As with many other Christmas bird counts across New Brunswick, the Moncton Christmas Bird Count happened on Saturday under crisp temperatures but sunny skies. There were surprises as always with so many eyes on the watch. Count coordinator Mitch Doucet will be sharing them soon once feeder reports are in.
A photograph of the group is attached with coordinator Mitch and Susan Atkinson at the head of the table. On arrival at days end, Susan had a beautiful piping hot chicken fricot ready for hungry birders with a pot of vegan chili courtesy of Mitch and Irene Doucet.

** John Inman comments he still has 3 Common Grackles continuing as patrons dodging a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and one of them has taken a fancy to the suet.

**The House Finch is a very urban species and most in-town bird feeder yards are accustomed to seeing it.
The females are plumaged consistently however the males tend to be very variable in the amount and distribution of red. Some individuals will show orange colouration as well.
Nelson Poirier attaches a photo of one variable patron.

**Moncton Christmas bird count coordinator Mitch Doucet has prepared a list of birds tallied as of Saturday night’s tally-up. Be aware this does not include the all-important feeder count which is yet to be included and could give increased numbers and possibly additional species.
Mitch’s preliminary list is below with some highlights bolded:

Thanks to all the 32 volunteer birders who participated this year.
We ended the day with 53 species and 11,286 birds!
Here's the unofficial list in taxonomic order with a few unexpected birds at the end:
Canada Goose - 330
Mallard - 1117
American Black Duck - 65
Ring-necked Pheasant - 28
Rock Pigeon - 772
Mourning Dove - 48
Ring-billed Gull - 4
Herring Gull - 2373
Iceland Gull - 324
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 5
*Glaucous Gull *- 3
Great Black-backed Gull - 443
Northern Harrier - 3
*Sharp-shinned Hawk* - 1
*Cooper’s Hawk* - 4
Bald Eagle - 71
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
*Short-eared Owl *- 1
Hairy Woodpecker - 16
Downy Woodpecker - 23
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
*Merlin *- 1
*Peregrine Falcon *- 1
Blue Jay - 72
American Crow - 830
Common Raven - 66
Black-capped Chickadee - 736
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 82
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 61
White-breasted Nuthatch - 15
Brown Creeper - 3
European Starling - 3446
American Robin - 9
Bohemian Waxwing - 95
House Sparrow - 16
House Finch - 17
American Goldfinch - 133
American Tree Sparrow - 5
Dark-eyed Junco - 23
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Song Sparrow - 8
Swamp Sparrow - 5
Common Grackle - 3
*Pine Warbler *- 1
Northern Cardinal - 11
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*Notable birds that we haven't had often during the Moncton CBC:*
*Northern Pintail *- 2
   We had 5 in previous years so the Northern Pintail will graduate to the list now.
*Orange-crowed Warbler* - 1
   We had 3 total in previous years so at 4 now.
*Great Blue Heron* - 1
   We had 5 so the Great Blue Heron with graduate to the list now.
*American Wigeon *- 1
We had 4 total in previous years so at 5 now.
*Carolina Wren *- 1
   We had 3 total in previous years so at 4 now.
*Gray Catbird *- 1
First appearance for the Moncton CBC!
*Ruby-crowned Kinglet *- 1
We had 2 total in previous years so at 3 now.
*Clay-colored Sparrow *- 1
We had only 1 observed in previous years so at 2 now.

Thank you again to everyone who helped make this event so successful and we hope to see you again next year.