Nature Moncton Nature
News
Clicking
on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.
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 email,
please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Please advise the editor
at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com, as well as proofreader 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 at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Brian kept a room full of
participants on the edge of their seats.
Due to the room's
acoustics, the virtual audience audio was poor. Brian Stone experimented with
using a cell phone camera on a tripod, resulting in an excellent audio recording
and good video of this fantastic presentation. Brian’s first effort was
rewarding, and he hopes to tweak it to be even better next time. Take a moment
to enjoy this presentation at the link below:
**Susan Richards comments,
“The November meeting was presented by Brian Donovan about
trail cameras. The room was filled with people who were able to see many
creatures, and Brian explained what we had seen and how often they appear in
the areas where he placed cameras in north-central New Brunswick. Many
stayed after to talk and ask questions.”
**Brian Stone got up early
on Tuesday and toured the Tantramar Marsh and the coast from Cape Tormentine to
Shediac. He didn't see the hoped-for owls at Tantramar, but he did get a few
less-than-satisfying photos of eagles and harriers that were uninspiring and
got cut from the story. At Cape Tormentine, the flock of several dozen snow
buntings was still present and was landing to forage in between
synchronized flights. A red-throated loon was diving in the water at the edge
of the old ferry terminal and didn't seem to mind being photographed. Also
posing for photos was a solitary sanderling, searching the pavement for
items rather than the beach and perching on rocks.
At Cape Jourimain, Brian
was very happy to relocate the pine grosbeaks that Rhonda and Paul
Langelaan had found earlier. Two females were unconcernedly feeding on
winterberry holly berries, just digging out the seeds and leaving the fruit
behind. Some distant surf scoters flew past, and a red-tailed
hawk soared overhead, also at a distance.
(Editor’s note: for gull interests,
the white area just below the primary wing feathers arrowed in Brian’s photo of a 1st cycle herring gull
is an excellent identification feature of this gull species in all of its immature stages.)
**Lichens are a
beautiful part of the natural world and biologically intriguing but maybe
trying to identify too many should be left to lichenologists!
Brian Stone and Nelson
Poirier took note of some lichen-loaded bird nest boxes at Reid McManus
preserve, thinking it was probably one species of lichen, so Kendra Driscoll at
the New Brunswick Museum was consulted. Her reply cemented the decision
not to get too hyped about identification. Kendra’s reply is quoted below:
“What lovely lichen
coverage. There may well be some Evernia in there, but I can't make any out
clearly enough to be sure. There is definitely Usnea (two species shown in
photo "4", with one appearing rather inflated in the bottom part of
the image, possibly belonging to Usnea cornuta or similar). There is at least
one species of Ramalina with apothecia. And there are grey foliose lichens
(Hypogymnia and Parmelia?) and some crustose lichens scattered along.”
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
BLACK SCOTERS (PAIR). NOV. 18, 2025. BRIAN STONE
-
