NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
December 4,
2023
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Edited by
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Deana
and Peter Gadd were back at Escuminac Point Sunday afternoon. Any sea ducks they could see were a long way off and were very much the species they would expect
to see.
On the way along the Escuminac Point Road
they spotted a Northern Shrike (the second time in recent weeks in about the
same location) but also perched on top of another nearby tree was a Northern
Flicker, certainly unexpected. There was an altercation, and it seemed the shrike
was the aggressor; whether it was hunting or just trying to send the flicker on
its way is hard to say. They couldn’t see any result but the flicker did seem eventually to try to hide in the foliage.
**John
Inman comments there has not been much nature to see in his Harvey area lately
which does seem to be generally the case. We are in that interim period when
most of our wildlife residents that migrate south have already done so and the northerners
migrating in are just arriving. But on
Sunday a high soaring Turkey Vulture was photographed against a bright
grey sky heading in a southerly direction, and Shannon Inman got a quick distant
photo of a buck White-tailed Deer trailing a doe across a field.
(Editor’s
note: the deer would appear in very good condition and showing its winter
greyish pelage.)
**Anna
Tucker comments on how much she enjoyed a recent visit to Mapleton Park in
Moncton. She enjoyed hand feeding Black-capped Chickadees and a few Red-breasted
Nuthatches. She took note of the huge rectangular excavations of Pileated
Woodpecker and commented there were only a few Mallard Ducks present as
there are now signs up not to feed them.
**Brian Stone
drove to a few coastal wharves in the Shediac and Cap Pele areas on Sunday and
enjoyed the nice weather but saw little to photograph.
At Rue Niles wharf he saw that a group of
Sanderlings was still present and actively foraging at the edge of the
surf. A variety of gulls were also there, resting on the small beach
area.
At the
Robichaud wharf, at least 6 Horned Grebes were diving for food a bit far
out for reasonable photography, but a documentary image was taken anyway to add
to the story. While there, a small group of Common Eiders flew past and
some quick flight photos were attempted to finish off the day.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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