NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
April 17,
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
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courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
The live feed to the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can
be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
**Nature
Moncton would like to thank Denis Doucet for his stellar presentation on
dragonflies and damselflies at the Tuesday night Nature Moncton meeting. It was
laden with interesting information and photographs as one would expect from a
presentation from Denis.
Brian Stone
also gave a very appreciated presentation in the second half of the meeting of
his photos from the solar eclipse that very much caught the attention of the
large in-house and virtual audience.
Thank you
Denis and Brian for a great meeting!
Both of
these presentations will be available as a recorded link and will be published
in Nature News as soon as available.
** Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins looked out her kitchen window to see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on her maple tree. She was also surprised to see it was a female. Normally the male arrives first. In St. Martins, at a neighbour's house, she saw many Northern Flickers, and managed to get a distant flight photo nicely showing that brilliant flash of yellow.
** Lisa Morris noticed an older ‘condo’ tree on a ski/bike trail in Centennial Park. No current activity above or on the ground but she suspected the woodpeckers must have enjoyed the treats with all those holes. She was surprised not to see chickadees or squirrels ‘renting’.
(Editor’s note: I would be very surprised if we were able to look inside these cavities that we would not find evidence of Flying Squirrels or other wildlife making use of the many homes at the right price!)
**Shannon Inman photographed a group of approximately 20 Great Blue Herons that were being very vocal in the Harvey marsh area this week.
Shannon also noticed the emergent leaves of Trout Lily that get their name from the markings similar to that of the back of a Speckled Trout. This spring ephemeral plant will soon sport beautiful yellow blossoms and then all above-ground evidence of them will disappear to not be seen again until next spring.
A White-throated Sparrow posed in its finest breeding attire as well as a Red-belted Polypore mushroom which was also showing its prime identification features.
** John Inman reports he had a
female Northern Cardinal drop by his Harvey yard a few days ago. John was able
to get a nice photo of the polished form of the Multicolored Asian Lady
Beetle and also swarms of Midges that have appeared in the last few days.
The male Brown-headed Cowbirds are very entertaining as they are trying
to demonstrate to the females that each of them is the most appropriate suitor.
**Jane LeBlanc was bicycling near her St. Martins home
and spotted a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers. They flew in opposite
directions, but she managed a very distant shot of the male.
**Norbert
Dupuis was able to capture a photo in the same frame of the two American Kestrels that are in
his Memramcook East neighbourhood to compare the two genders.
(Editor’s
note: many of our raptors differ little in gender plumage looking quite similar
except that the female is often predominantly larger. The American Kestrel is
one exception with the male and female being quite different in plumage.
The
Northern Harrier is another raptor in which the genders sport different
plumages.
Crows don’t
tend to harass American kestrels as they do other raptors; however, Norbert got
a photo where a Crow seems to be harassing a female American Kestrel.)
**Penny
Clark just returned to her summer cottage at McKees Mills to find a stump that
had been intact when she left in the fall in complete tatters and wonders ‘who
done it’. The chunks left do not seem consistent with a Pileated Woodpecker and she wonders if some other animal may have dismembered it in search of forage.
Penny also
shares a photo of a Mourning Dove nest that was placed in a low conifer
tree just outside of her home. The Mourning Dove is certainly not known for its
nest construction engineering abilities. The nest is very fragile, just enough to hold
some eggs; however, it works for the Mourning Dove as their population is doing
very well!
**That very early emerging plant Skunk Cabbage is on its mission and fast. Gart Bishop photographed a beautiful example on Monday on the banks of the Hammond River. This beautiful plant is not ephemeral but will produce huge rhubarb-like leaves when flowering is complete.
Nature Moncton