NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 24, 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 the 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 Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
To
view the live feed of the Peregrine Falcon nest cam on the summit of Assumption
Place in Moncton, go to:
**Cathy Simon would like to encourage all
Nature Moncton members and friends to attend the EcoFest event at the
Magnetic Hill Zoo this weekend, May 24 and 25, from 9 AM-5 PM. In
addition to viewing all the animals and enjoying a 2 km walk outdoors, you can
visit with various local environmental groups! Nature Moncton will be
hosting a booth on the Sunday of this event. All proceeds from this event's
ticket sales go towards the Friends of the Zoo's fund to build new or improve
existing animal habitats at the Zoo. This is a win-win-win event! Info: https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/ecofest
**Harry Collins spotted a turkey vulture at the Paul Hayes Sewage Treatment Plant in Miramichi on Friday morning. Harry was closer when he passed by on the road and caught sight of some red on its head. Harry comments “If it is a vulture [which it is], Harry feels they are increasingly more common in NB but thought this might be of interest to local naturalists. Harry expects it may return to the road-kill meal he disturbed it from in want of a documentary photo”.
(Editor’s note: Harry
is very correct. Turkey vultures in the
the Miramichi area are
becoming surprisingly abundant. It may be significant at the moment, as the
popular striped bass fishery
produces lots of fish
offal available to them after the fish are
filleted. Nelson
Poirier gets any fish offal he can get/beg to
place in a woods
location with a trail camera trained on it. On
Wednesday morning,
when he went to check his camera, it was
a rewarding sight to
see 20+ turkey vultures floating in a circular
manner around the
fish offal site and several more lifting off as
he drove in to check
the camera. Nelson is convinced the turkey
vultures can
recognize his truck arriving and float overhead in
anticipation of the
restaurant being restocked!)
**Lisa Morris got
some documentary photos of one of two Canada goose families that
frequent the Jones Lake dock, end of Parlee Drive. The other family has four goslings and was by the big pine tree Friday, closer to the lake, in the same
area as the other six goslings, but too far away to capture on iPhone. The City
had mowed the lawn this week, so perhaps it was easy foraging for the Canada
Geese. Lisa comments that she hopes the City informs both families about
the upcoming dragon boat races so they can find a safe temporary spot away from
the ‘maddening crowd’!
**Brian Stone walked the length of Mapleton Park from the Gorge Rd. end on Thursday to check out the new beaver pond area at the Mapleton Rd. end.
(Editor's note: note the angle of cut in Brian's photo of the felled beaver tree. The beaver will angle the cut so that the tree will fall in the direction it wishes.)
Along the way Brian photographed items of interest including the recently flowering nodding
trilliums, red-berried elder, and red baneberry flowers, small blue
violets, clintonia (blue bead lily) flowering and with a small
bee enjoying the flowers, a flower fly on dandelion flowers, flowering
crab tree blooms, a male yellow-bellied sapsucker, a very vocal ovenbird,
and a chipmunk.
** Barbara Smith points to an excellent story
in The New York Times this week that may be of interest to bird lovers
everywhere. The owners of a building in Chicago that saw 1,000 bird strikes
in a single day just two years ago during fall migration have managed to reduce
the number of deaths this year by 95%. How? Through the application of
closely spaced yet unobtrusive white dots applied to the glass. This
appears to allow the birds to "see" the glass and veer off before
colliding with the building. She shares the link to the story below. (The link
may prompt readers to subscribe, but bird lovers might find the introductory
price of a digital subscription well worth it. Alternatively, Barbara can send
the story as a "gift" article to Nature News readrs who contact her
through editor Nelson.)
Barbara also notes that Lee Valley Tools, a
Canadian company, sells an anti-collision tape that uses white squares to deter
birds from windows.
**Many birdfeeders folk, and their patrons
very much enjoyed using the bird pies made in Nova Scotia and on sale at
Sobey’s. Sobey’s has discontinued selling them, but Nelson Poirier noticed them
at feeds’n needs on Mountain Road for a very reasonable price if a pack of two were purchased that did not include the orange netting.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
