Nature Moncton Nature News: December 23 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

December 23, 2023

Nature Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**It does not seem to be a big ‘redpoll year’ -- but we always feel that way until they start showing up at feeders which they don’t tend to do until the birch catkin crop gets foraged.

Aldo Dorio photographed a flock of Common Redpolls foraging on birch catkins at Hay Island on Friday.

**Sometimes the female White-throated Sparrow does not get much attention due to its more drab plumage, and the sparrows are usually busy with family matters when they are with us in the summer.

Lynn Dube photographed White-throated Sparrow recently at her Lower Coverdale feeder yard that emphasizes the drab plumage.

Lynn also comments that the expected woodpeckers are in good numbers enjoying suet.

(Editor’s note: My yard has a variety of suet out, but so far woodpeckers are few.)

**Brian Stone joined Nelson Poirier on an outing on Friday that took them to several spots in Moncton and the Tantramar Marsh in Sackville.

In Moncton, Brian photographed the pair of Peregrine Falcons at the Assumption building, one of which was feeding on a prey item. Each bird chose one of the large A logos as a perch.

Earlier at Mapleton Park Brian and Nelson investigated more examples of middens of freshwater mussels left by muskrats that lined the shore of the main pond.

They made a long round of the Tantramar Marsh area including the Goose Lake Rd. and Brooklyn Rd. around to Jolicure, High Marsh Road, and Coles Island Road. Wildlife observations were at a premium to include only a family of Ruffed Grouse along with ravens and crows. The sunset on the Tantramar Marsh (the Maritime’s prairie) was striking!

**Brian Stone photographed Late Fall Oyster Mushrooms (Panellus serotinus) he had found in Mapleton Park on Thursday. That photo is reattached today. Brian and Nelson Poirier went back to the site and gathered them on Friday.

They hit the sauté pan on Friday evening. What a pleasant surprise. They were delicious, much tastier than the popular oyster mushrooms. They will not be passed by again without being gathered!!

**Bird feeding literature often suggests that Northern Cardinals have a ‘sweet tooth’ for safflower seed. Nelson Poirier tried it last season to have a female Northern Cardinal patron snub her bill at it in favour of sunflower chips.

This season a pair of Northern Cardinals is patronizing the feeder yard and at first favoured the sunflower chips. After two weeks of having access to safflower seed, they seem to have changed their minds and are now seemingly more content to alternate safflower seed and sunflower chips over black oil sunflower seed.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton