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**The
Nature Moncton January meeting is coming up tonight, Tuesday, January 20,
at 7 o’clock and will be totally virtual so everyone anywhere can join from
their homes. Details are below:
Nature
Moncton January meeting
Tuesday,
January 20, 2026, at 7:00 PM
The
Canadian Beaver
Guest
speaker: Andrew Hebda
Biologist
Andrew Hebda, retired curator of zoology at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural
History, will present this talk on the Canadian Beaver (Castor canadensis),
which is in its 51st year (March 24, 1975) as Canada’s national animal. The
Beaver has been very influential in Canada’s national development, especially
in the early fur trade of the 1600s. Andrew will cover all three species of the
Canadian Beaver, including their prehistory, history, natural history, and lots
more. He will examine our intimate and natural relationship with this member of
the Rodentia, and where the European Beaver fits in. As in any presentation
Andrew Hebda gives, this promises to be a fascinating look at our national
animal.
This
presentation will be 100% virtual, allowing participants to enjoy excellent
audio and visuals and be able to participate freely.
Interested
participants are welcome to join in using the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87000900556?pwd=4YZObmYuX0NVBP6LXPfxRatauoSY4O.1
**It is notable this year how evening grosbeaks appear to be enjoying urban feeders as much as rural feeders.
Marbeth
Wilson is yet another urban birdfeeder that is enjoying evening grosbeaks in
pleasant numbers at her Moncton birdfeeder yard.
**Brian
Coyle was fortunate to be able to get a photograph of a male golden-crowned
kinglet in his backyard on Monday afternoon. In the winter, Brian almost
always finds golden-crowned kinglets with his backyard "gang" of black-capped
chickadees. The same can be said as he travels through local spruce forests.
They are so hard to photograph, as they rarely sit still.
Brian’s
trail camera was able to record three coyotes together, with one bold one coming in
for a good sniff of the camera. Brian suspects that mating season has begun, as
they usually bolt upon sensing a trail camera, and there are three Coyotes together. Check out the coyotes at the link below:
**Jane LeBlanc found lots of birds at the feeders after the heavy snow on Sunday night. As well as two white-throated sparrows, she also had an American tree sparrow in addition to the regulars. In St. Martins, she noticed a flock of Bohemian waxwings.
**Norbert Dupuis was able to photograph both a northern cardinal and an evening grosbeak enjoying clinging crab apple fruit in his Memramcook yard. We don't often see these two species foraging on winter fruit.
**John
Inman had a single common redpoll join his many American goldfinches to
allow a photograph.
They found a suspected cuckoo wasp, which probably came in on Shannon’s coat when she
was exploring the woods. They also have no shortage of evening grosbeaks.
What an evening grosbeak year it’s turning out to be!
**Pat
Gibbs often wonders how to interpret the behaviour/gestures of her grey squirrel
patrons. She wonders if anyone knows what the behaviour is when they are
standing tall, as in photo #1. It seemed to her maybe they were looking
for something, or maybe sniffing for something? This posture seems different from when they are standing but nibbling on
food, as in photo #2. Pat wonders what sense they might be using? Are they
sniffing for food (her peanuts), looking for movement (danger?), or listening
for intruders (competitors-unwelcome squirrelly relatives or neighbours?)
(Editor’s note: note the embedded tick (arrowed) on the forehead of the squirrel in Pat’s photo. Few ticks may be questing at the present cool temperatures, but the few warm days above 4 degrees C last week probably had some on a mission.)
**On
Sunday, Brian Stone and Cathy Simon visited the White Rock Recreational Area in
Hillsborough and walked trails through the unbroken snow cover for a couple of hours.
No wildlife was seen close enough to be photographed and a few crows and
ravens, one chickadee, and one squirrel were pretty much the only critters
encountered, except for a nice group of five white-tailed deer that passed by in a
line. The only tracks seen in the new snow were small rodent tracks and
three different types were seen, but all were vole-sized or smaller. Some ferns,
lichen, and tree fungus were examined and studied by Cathy to try for an
ID.
On
an earlier outing, Brian stopped to photograph a peregrine falcon on the
side of the Assumption Building in downtown Moncton and a group of mallard
and black ducks flying over the Petitcodiac River.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
