Nature Moncton Nature News: January 9 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

January 9, 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

**Paul and Rhonda Langelaan were taking note of Iceland Gulls on Sunday at the Salisbury wastewater treatment ponds when a larger pale gull with a larger bill caught Paul's keen eye and he realized a much less common Glaucous Gull was with them to allow a great photo op showing these two species of northern gulls side-by-side.

The Glaucous Gull shows its immature 1st-winter plumage, suggesting its first year by the complete lack of yellow in the eye. Both 1st-winter and 2nd-winter Glaucous Gulls have the heavy black bill tip.

The primary extension of the wings in the Iceland Gulls photographed show the grey bands to indicate they are the kumlieni subspecies whereas the glaucoides subspecies of the Iceland Gull would have a pale primary extension of the wings.

The Glaucous Gull is significantly larger (27 in) than the Iceland Gull (22 in). Aside from the significant size difference, the Iceland Gull tends to have a much more 'gentle' appearance than the rather fierce appearance of the Glaucous Gull.

It is not very often we get to see these 2 gull species so nicely placed for a comparison photo!

**Grant Ramsey and Magda Kuhn share photos of a collection of Beaver activities they saw at Kouchibouguac on a walk Saturday.

Some big aspen trees were being tackled as well as young birch. They got a closer photo of one of the birch to show the tooth marks. They found the lodge and the birch that had been ‘harvested’ beside it for future consumption, and also got a photo of the dam which appears to have raised the pond by a foot or two.

(Editor's note: it is always interesting to note that the Beaver arranges the cut of the tree at a slant to allow it to fall in the direction in which the beaver has chosen.)

**Brian Stone drove around to a few areas on Monday and didn't see much worthy of a nature photo but at Rue Niles in Cap Pele, he found a small group of about a dozen Snow Buntings.

Brian took a lot of photos from the car, but they were all blurred by heat escaping from the open car window. Brian prefers to take pictures through a closed car window in the winter to avoid that problem but the long lens looking out through the driver's side demanded an open window as Brian could not lean backward far enough to keep the window closed. He sharpened the images as much as he could but some quality was lost.

(Editor's note: a great photo tip from Brian to photograph through a clean closed car window in winter cold temperatures.)

The wharf at Rue Niles was not frozen over yet so Brian also got some photos of the impressive wave action and the semi-frozen slurry of ice floating at the edge of the water.

**Brian Stone shares a very interesting research publication he came across showing that birds can make contact with the embryos in their nest clutch of eggs to imprint contact vocalizations that are used when they hatch. Check out this significant finding at the link below:

https://www.sciencealert.com/in-an-incredible-discovery-wrens-teach-their-babies-to-sing-before-theyre-hatched

**Some unfortunate developments have occurred for the Monarch Butterfly in Atlantic Canada.

The Nature Moncton email account received the message attached below:

On December 12, 2023, Environment and Climate Change Canada posted an Order Amending Schedule 1 to the Species at Risk Act on the Species at Risk Public Registry (https://species-registry.canada.ca/index-en.html#/documents/674). The purpose of this order to the Atlantic region is to support the survival and recovery of the Monarch Butterfly through legal protection of the species on federal land in response to the species’ status reclassification from Special Concern to Endangered.

To learn more, a summary of the order can be read here: https://wildlife-species.az.ec.gc.ca/species-risk-registry/virtual_sara/files/orders/SommaireDecretOrderSummary-v00-2023Dec-eng.pdf.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton