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
**It is required by our
Nature Moncton bylaws to provide notice of the Annual General Meeting well in
advance. Fred Richards has provided the letter below:
DECEMBER 1, 2025
Notice of Annual
General Meeting
Nature Moncton Members:
The Annual General Meeting
will be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at 7:00 PM.
This meeting will be held
before the regular monthly meeting at the Rotary Lodge. There will be no Zoom
video of this event. The Annual General Report will be made available to all
members two weeks before the meeting. The meeting will be brief, but it
is important that our membership participates.
The greatest strength of
Nature Moncton is our members. We are particularly fortunate to have a large
core of volunteers to imagine, organize, and help carry out the many activities
we are proud to provide. Many of these volunteers are found on our committees,
and we are asking you to join us.
Our committees are
expanding, and we think you would find joining a committee a rewarding way to help
Nature Moncton achieve its goals.
If you have a couple of
hours a month to spend helping on the Board of Directors or any of our committees,
please contact me or any member of the Board of Directors.
Thank you.
Fred Richards
506-334-0100
The well-done Nature
Moncton Annual Report put together by president Fred Richards is a very
interesting presentation of the past year and things to come. Fred has
illustrated it with photos that will bring back many memories to reflect on from the
past year. Take a moment to read the report at the link below. It is sure to bring many smiles!
**Jane LeBlanc in St.
Martins has a flock of 15-20 evening grosbeaks coming to her yard as of
Saturday. Besides the regulars, she also had a northern cardinal pair
after several weeks' absence, as well as a dark-eyed junco.
**On Saturday, Brian Stone
drove to Cape Jourimain, Cape Tormentine, and along the coast to Shediac. At
Cape Jourimain, Brian saw flocks of American goldfinches, several American
crows, and a flock of small birds at a long distance that he couldn't
identify at the time, which turned out to be common redpolls when
enlarged on the computer.
(Editor’s note: There have
been several reports of flocks of common redpolls and pine siskins, both of
which prefer to forage on birch catkins. If they are in New Brunswick in
sufficient numbers, we can expect to see them at our bird feeder yards as the
wild supply of birch catkins becomes depleted or falls to the ground and is covered
by snow/ice.)
Along the trail, Brian
noticed a big brown ball in an evergreen tree that he was surprised to
find out was a porcupine, as it was so large. The wind was intense and
was whipping the water up into waves all along the coast.
Nothing of interest was
seen at the wharves along the way, but at Pointe-du-Chene wharf, Brian
photographed a female common eider duck that had caught a crab and was
being harassed by several gulls that were trying to steal her catch. Brian
wasn't able to catch the gulls in action, but they were hovering right above
the eider as it tried to swallow its lunch and dove at it constantly forcing it
to dive under until it gave up the food. While Brian was focusing on the eider,
a harbour seal popped up its head to have a look around. A pair of
female scaup came into view while all this was going on, and then Brian
noticed a "small" flock of gulls rise up over the rocky
breakwater and land on its inward side. It looked like more gulls than rocks by
the time they were all down and resting.
On Sunday, Brian visited
Fred Richards for his chess lesson. While there, he photographed some of the
birds at Fred's feeders, but somehow lost everything except for one photo of a
male evening grosbeak and one of an American goldfinch. But he
does include some photos of his yard birds, including the male and female
northern cardinals, a white-throated sparrow, a dark-eyed junco,
and some of his own American goldfinches.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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