NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
January 24, 2024
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.
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**The newly formed Nature Moncton
Outdoors Committee has organized its first activity of the year which will be a workshop
on cell phone apps for naturalists to be held this coming Saturday,
Jan 27. It is short notice, but the new committee wants to get activities up
and running with lots more to follow.
The write-up is at the end of today’s
message and up-front tomorrow. If attending, register with Fred Richards at fredrichards@rogers.com
**Louise
Nichols was out on High Marsh Rd on Wednesday morning. Along with the
usual handful of Rough-legged Hawks at a very far distance and Bald Eagles high
up on hydro towers, she saw a Muskrat close to the road, just across the
ditch. As with previous observations lately, the Muskrat was in a field
far away from water and seemingly vulnerable. When Louise got out of the
car, however, the Muskrat stopped what it was doing, looked at her, and
scurried to a spot a few feet from where it was. Louise was snapping some
photos and when she looked up, it was gone. She couldn't see any kind of
hole in the grass from where she was standing, but there must have been
one. So even when away from water, maybe Muskrats are never too far from
a place to disappear.
(Editor’s note: take note of one of Louise’s
photos, clearly showing the claws of the Muskrat which show a very obvious white
area. When we see a close-up picture of a Muskrat near a Beaver lodge, not
knowing the size of the animal, it is easy to think Beaver but if you can see
the claws, you can clinch the ID because a beaver would have dark claws.)
**Nature Moncton Workshop
Cell Phone Nature Apps
Nature Moncton will present its first training session
of the year
on Saturday, January 27,
2024, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Tankville School, 1979 Elmwood Drive, Moncton
This workshop will provide an opportunity to learn four
apps that have been found useful to many of our members. These will be presented by members who have
experience with the app. There will be
time for hands-on learning. If you wish to follow along on an app,
please load it before the session.
Apps:
Google Lens, a product of
Google, presented by Fred Richards. This
is an identification app using your cell camera or photos.
eBird, an app for sharing your observations to a
database. This will be presented by
Cathy Simon
iNaturalist, for sharing your observations to scientific
databases. It will also help with IDs. Presented by Gordon Rattray
PictureThis, an app for field ID of plants. Presenter to be named later.
If time, we will look at Merlin, a bird ID app from Cornell University, especially useful for song IDs.
As always, everyone is welcome, Nature Moncton member
or not.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
.%20JAN.%2024,%202024.%20LOUISE%20NICHOLS.jpg)
