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**Peter and Deana Gadd
took a drive Tuesday afternoon along the north shore of Miramichi Bay. They
came across a number of sea and shore birds. At Bartibog Bridge, they were able
to pick out at a distance a single Barrow’s goldeneye amongst a half
dozen common goldeneye and two pairs of hooded mergansers. At Oak Point, a
single greater scaup was standing on an offshore boulder, perhaps
looking to find some of its kin, as it seems unusual to see a member of this
species all alone! The shape of its head and the relative size of its bill distinguish
it from the lesser scaup. Also swimming leisurely at Oak Point was a red-throated
loon, and feeding in shallow brook water were two greater yellowlegs. At
the beach at the end of Cedriere Rd. near Tracadie, black scoters, white-winged
scoters and long-tailed ducks were seen amongst quite heavy rollers. At just
one point along the long beach where the surf was roughest, Bonaparte's
gulls and a few herring gulls were very active, feeding
presumably on nutrients brought to the surface by the wave action. Three
black-bellied plovers were spotted at Hay Island, seemingly in no hurry yet to
head further south.
**Shannon Inman is now
seeing a variety of mushrooms popping up that the drought of the summer and
fall kept at bay. One group is almost certain to be the bricktop mushroom,
which cooperated with its signature purple brown spore print.
**Last evening (Nov.
11/12) Brian Stone checked the sky several times before going to bed because of
the major display of Aurora (northern lights) that was in progress above the
cloud cover at the time. The clouds showed no sign of parting as the evening progressed,
and he gave up after falling asleep in front of the TV around 11:40 pm. As he
was tucking into bed, he couldn't help himself and he decided to check one last
time. He took a 6-second exposure photo (cell phone) out the kitchen window and
went back to the bedroom, resigned to missing another display of astronomical
beauty. As he stared at the photo before turning out the light, he thought he
might be detecting just a hint of colour showing through the clouds, and he
decided to step outside on the back deck and get a slightly better version of
it. As he was setting up the cell phone on the tripod, he suddenly noticed that
some stars were visible, and then, looking up, he realized that the clouds had
thinned and the super-wonderful, bright aurora was shining through! These
photos were taken over the next hour. Oh, so lucky!
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
