NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
January 12, 2025
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
and proofreader Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if
any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website
at www.naturemoncton.com.
Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
** A heads up that this year's first Nature Moncton Meeting will be happening next Tuesday night, January 21st. The topic will be wildlife tracks, scat, and sign. Details can be found on the Nature Moncton website at naturemoncton.com.
**John Inman has extended
the menu for his yard wildlife troupe. He photographed a crow in
early for a tortilla for breakfast and the doe White-tailed Deer for her
peanut butter and jam sandwich!
John also
captured a nice full-body window photo of a Brown Creeper as it enjoyed more natural food, working a yard birch tree.
**Nelson
Poirier and Brian Stone drove a loop around the south/east corner of New
Brunswick to include the Fundy, Alma, Waterside, and Caledonia Mountain to
Turtle Creek areas. Not as many birds or other wildlife were seen as were hoped
for, but in Alma at Doreen Rossiter's feeders, a bright male Ring-necked
Pheasant posed nonchalantly for the camera as well as one of the many American
Goldfinches feeding there. Some Dark-eyed Juncos, American Tree Sparrows,
and White-throated Sparrows were present also but were not close enough to make
the camera happy. Doreen’s special visitors, the male Red-bellied Woodpecker and
Northern Cardinals chose to remain away from the prying eyes of visitors!
A drop by Paula Lansdowne’s feeder yard close to Alma had
many of the regular expected patrons with a branch pile they had erected
very popular with sparrows.
On the way back through the New Horton area, a surprise
group of five Guinea Fowl were doing a walk about alongside the roadway,
putting on a raucously noisy show for the observers as they passed by. This is not a sight seen very often. Brian captured a short video of their
noisy discussion of why this truck was so bold as to interrupt their stroll.
The truck's human occupants stayed quiet, but it appeared the barks of a pup in
the truck seemed to make them wonder what a strange animal that could be!
Take a look at the action and vocalization exchange at
the link below:
Up on Caledonia Mountain, a stop at the favourite Boreal
Chickadee viewing site disappointingly did not result in a sighting. They may
have decided to be elsewhere lately or possibly are remaining just out of sight
to teach birders not to take them for granted.
Caledonia Mountain's resident gentleman had little to say!
At the River View Cemetery near Hopewell Cape, an attempt
was made to photograph the large Bald Eagle nest in a Pine tree at the
back of the cemetery, but it was mostly obscured by foreground branches. The
dimensions of the nest can be made out though, and it is clearly one of the
larger ones. This huge nest is very near the roadway and human traffic. Nest reparation
and occupancy can be expected soon. This nest has been at this site and
occupied for many years.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
