Nature Moncton Nature News: May 11 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

May 11, 2024

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The live feed to the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

**The Peregrine Falcon family on the summit of Assumption Place is pleased to announce the birth of their first youngster. The egg pipping with a bit of help from mother brought the first chick into the world on Friday afternoon.

From egg hatch to fledgling could be expected to take 40 days which would mean the third week in June could be an exciting and crucial time if the chicks survive.

There could be incredible action to follow over the next 1 1/2 months. We have to remember this is a wild nest even though the nest box is man-made and nature will take its course as to success and challenges. The links below show activity on hatching day with 2 videos and 2 screenshots but a lot more was happening under the mother’s body.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pduo9kxs1ggyp4i8y5w6f/peregrine.hopto.org_01_20240510163714892.mp4?rlkey=o4ddwca1fho2w3erosrgnsfeb&st=cjir5ttt&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d4a1v1bxkwxmtakqjh1za/peregrine.hopto.org_01_20240510164352459.mp4?rlkey=6kcwz34m6cq8sbj2my0v570zq&st=r6fgxipk&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pduo9kxs1ggyp4i8y5w6f/peregrine.hopto.org_01_20240510163714892.mp4?rlkey=o4ddwca1fho2w3erosrgnsfeb&st=cjir5ttt&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qkmqjes78dicoyjj5ihxw/peregrine.hopto.org_01_20240510164346135.jpeg?rlkey=7hb6gpd0a0erhd86fl3892a3k&st=htntjd8q&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/sh1orpjd5ka21429p2dp4/peregrine.hopto.org_01_20240510164341400.jpeg?rlkey=20tivt64poks9ndabu5t0kihi&st=n29zft0q&dl=0

The very exciting birth was appropriately celebrated with the night sky putting on a massive show to mark the event as shared by Jane and Brian below.

**Jane and Ed LeBlanc in St. Martins drove 15 minutes from their home and crossed their fingers Friday night. They were rewarded with spectacular displays of the Northern Lights. The colours were different from other times they had seen them, and they could actually see some colour with the naked eye. Quite the 'Friday Night Lights'!

**On Friday night and very early Saturday morning, Brian Stone spent 4 hours getting chilly photographing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) that put on a wonderful display after a coronal mass ejection from the Sun bumped into our planet and stirred up the atoms in the high levels of the atmosphere. The display was clearly visible and mesmerizing to watch, but the camera managed to record and enhance colours and bands that were only weakly visible to the unaided eye.

**Our native ferns are popping up fast at the moment. Often the first ones to emerge are the fuzzy Interrupted Fern and the Cinnamon Fern.

Susan Richards photographed one of these at the Sackville Waterfowl Park which can be hard to differentiate from one another until the fronds unfurl more to make identification easy.

**White-crowned Sparrows would seem to be in very good numbers this spring or else they are all moving through at once.

Susan Rousseau in Sussex has enjoyed one for a few days but it only allowed itself to be photographed on Friday.

**John Inman was able to get photos on Friday of 3 White-crowned Sparrows. John noted the 2 brighter ones soon seemed to have a standoff.

(Editor’s note: let’s enjoy this species for the short period we have them as they make their brief refueling stops at our feeders on their way to the north of us to set up housekeeping. We will see some of them in the fall as they migrate south through New Brunswick but normally not as many as we see in spring.)

John had a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrive but it would not give him a frontal view photo as she was keeping an eye on a male perched nearby.

**Aldo Dorio photographed a pair of American Wigeon at Hay Island on Friday which may be a habitat they could choose for nesting.

Aldo also got a documentary photo of a Bald Eagle that would appear to be closing in on adulthood, noting the bill to be completely yellow with head and tail showing lots of white.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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