Nature Moncton Nature News: January 4 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

January 4, 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.

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Louise Nichols spent most of the day on the trails near the Canadian Wildlife Service building in Sackville trying to spot the elusive Townsend's Warbler. About a dozen or more birders were around the area with the same goal. Very similar to the last times Louise tried for this bird, she kept missing it when it was spotted somewhere else, or she would leave an area and then find that it was spotted in that area a couple of minutes after she left. The bird had often appeared along a trail running alongside a creek (Alder Lane is the trail's name in the Sackville Waterfowl Park). It was traveling in a group of Black-capped Chickadees and Golden-crowned Kinglets all day. When the sun was getting low in the sky, Louise decided to leave and walked back to the parking lot. Just when she arrived, she heard a commotion of Black-capped Chickadees and saw a number of birders around the big pine tree in front of the CWS building. When she approached to check it out, someone spotted the Townsend's Warbler in a bush and it flew into the pine tree to join the flock where it stayed for several minutes, occasionally appearing out in the open to pose for a collection of cameras. It was a satisfying end to a day that looked as though it was not going to yield the coveted prize!

(Editor’s note: determination pays off……. Sometimes!!)

**John and Shannon Inman’s resident Red-tailed Hawk that has been coming for some years to its booty prize of meat scraps appears to be having challenges keeping his good fortune quiet. They now think there are 2 more Red-tailed Hawks taking note with the resident Red-tailed Hawk not at all amused.

Shannon Inman photographed one of the new hawks which appears to be an immature bird showing the yellow eye and banded tail of immaturity.

Hopefully, the bird patrons at the feeder yard are aware this hawk species is not after them and can be peacefully ignored.

**John Inman found a wasp-like insect flying about his home that gave a wonderful chance for photo ops of an interesting insect that can be hard to photograph when on its summer mission. Why it was in the house is up for speculation!

With the help of BugGuide, it was pointed out that John’s visitor was one of our species of Cuckoo Wasps of the genus Crysididae.

Cuckoo Wasps are parasitoids on bees. They are solitary wasps and will lay their eggs in the nests of other solitary wasps and bees. The egg hatches and will either eat the preyed-upon larva or starve it to death devouring all the food it was provided with.

The exoskeleton of these insects is covered by dense spots which gives it an almost glittery appearance to make identity suggestive along with the bright green tones.

This wasp gets its name from the activity of the Black-billed Cuckoo that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds to avoid family responsibilities.

**Susan Richards was able to get a documentary photo of a 14-inch ‘angel wing’ impression left in the snow by a raptor in the process of taking prey which in this case appears to be Mourning Dove. These angel wing impressions and a close look at the footprint can tell a lot about whodunit. These observations can usually be easily interpreted in soft fluffy snow which is an advantage Susan did not have when taking her photograph.

(Editor’s note: it is so great to see the use of flexible cloth tapes to record measurements which means so much when making possible identifications from photos.)

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton