Nature Moncton Nature News: November 25 2025

Nature Moncton Nature News

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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.

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**Georges Brun photographed five white-tailed deer contentedly grazing along Gunningsville Blvd. in Riverview, finding urban life quite to their liking as well as safe.

Georges was over at the Greenpark Meadows site on Sunday to collect seeds to plant wildflowers and help with the monarch butterfly flyway project. George compliments the great job by Pam O'Brien and Karen Rogers who created and cared for this project. They donate seeds to folks interested in having these plants in their own gardens.

This site is located between 16 and 18 Greenpark Drive in Riverview. (Drive up Gunningsville Blvd. past the roundabout, take the next right on Pinewood Road, then left on Greenpark Dr. The park is on the left as you go around the court.)

**John Inman noted a skunk in his backyard on Sunday evening, grubbing for fat, delicious grubs/larvae.

John also spotted a 3rd rusty blackbird joining his complement of this overwintering blackbird whose population has crashed over the years. John, however, continues each winter to have them as patrons, assuming a portion of them are the same birds each year, showing site fidelity.

**Brian Stone visited Hampton on the weekend but found little to photograph there. All the lagoon ponds, except for the main active one, were frozen over and bird-free. In the main pond, a group of northern shovelers was feeding in their characteristic circular pattern.

(Editor’s note: Brian’s photo shows a feeding pattern that is very favoured by the northern shoveler duck referred to in birding literature as ‘vortex feeding'. They will gather in ‘pinwheeling’ groups where they swim in a circle to create a vortex that stirs up food from the water's bottom. They then use their specialized, spoon-shaped bills with comb-like structures to filter and strain tiny organisms, seeds, and other particles from the water. This cooperative feeding allows them to efficiently access food stirred up from the muddy bottoms of shallow waters.

An interesting and effective method of foraging.)

Near Brian's sister's place, a large bald eagle nest was waiting patiently for the new nesting season to begin.

Back at home, Brian checked out Highland Park in Salisbury and found the resident great blue heron still present, doing its best to catch fish through the thin ice.

(Editor’s note: Brian’s photo is of a juvenile great blue heron, indicated by the totally dark crown and dark upper mandible.)

In a cloud snuggling up to the Sun, a colourful iridescent display appears under the right conditions. Brian suggests the link below to describe this colour display:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_iridescence

Earlier in the week, Brian was delayed on St. George Blvd by a long train of Canada geese crossing the road, seemingly in no rush to reach the other side.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton