Nature Moncton Nature News: February 10 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

February 10, 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

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Jane Wood reports some of the diversity of birds and wildlife they are seeing around their Riverview yard.

They currently have 2 pairs of Northern Cardinals, coming in early morning or late afternoon, when it's still darkish out and almost hard to tell what they are. On Saturday there was a Red-bellied Woodpecker who dropped in for a short while, the first they have seen this year. There recently has been a Brown Creeper showing up for short periods which fed at the feeders.

Also on Saturday, there was a large flock of American Robins and Bohemian Waxwings at a neighbour's apple tree. The tree still has quite a few apples hanging on it and the birds were around there off and on for a couple of days. Jane tried taking photos but couldn't get close enough without scaring them off. There is also a Ring-necked Pheasant couple coming around occasionally. This is in addition to the usual Black-capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, and Rock Pigeons. There is not a lot of any one bird type and some days no birds at all. Jane has suet, bird pie, and peanut butter out in addition to the bird seed.

Jane is having problems with Grey Squirrels; She can have as many as 5 at a time. They have managed to find a way to get at all of her feeders which is very frustrating. At night 3-6 White-tailed Deer are coming to her neighbour's yard across the street. They clean up any seed that is on the ground and knock on some of the feeders to try to empty them.

On Tuesday night there was a Red Fox across the street; it looked a little thin but healthy. Jane didn't see it, but her neighbour sent her a video.
Jane comments there has been quite a variety lately. She is most pleased about the Northern Cardinals, hoping they stay in the area and set up housekeeping.

(Editor’s note: Jane has a surprising variety of wildlife for an urban yard but then again, the menu is very complete!)

**Norbert Dupuis photographed some of his bird patrons on the beautiful frosty Friday morning in Memramcook.

**Brian Stone was once again in Hampton, on Thursday and Friday, and he shares a few photos from the lagoon area there and also from the McCully/Penobsquis area he drove through on the way home. At Hampton, he found a pair of dark morph Grey Squirrels foraging on Spooner Island as he was trying to get a decent photo of an active tree-hopping White-breasted Nuthatch.

(Editor's note: the dark morph Grey Squirrel is quite commonly seen in Ontario but is not commonly seen in the Maritimes.
Also, note in Brian's photo of the Hairy Woodpecker that the bluish appearing nictitating membrane is drawn across the eye. Although all mammals, birds, and people have this membrane it is well-developed in the woodpecker to protect the eye from sawdust.)

At McCully Brian parked at the side of the road to watch and photograph a young Bald Eagle interacting with two adult eagles while being harassed by a large group of crows and ravens. He got a photo of one of the high-flying Common Ravens and by the time he left the Penobsquis area, he had a total of 10 Bald Eagles on his list.

In his yard at home, Brian watched several American Crows searching around the evergreen trees for snacks. One of them slipped several times while walking across the hard icy surface of the snow and came close to the kitchen window, ignoring the obsessive photographer framed there taking more pictures than he could possibly use.

He saw what looked like a possible large nest high in a tree, slightly larger than a basketball.
(Editor's note: the large sticks at the base of this nest would tend to suggest a raptor.)

In the water of the lagoon, a lonely solo male Common Goldeneye Duck swam around in a still unfrozen patch in the company of two or three Mallard Duck pairs.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton