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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**A
very sincere thank you to Andrew Hebda for joining the Nature Moncton January
meeting on Tuesday night to share his vast knowledge of the American beaver as
well as its huge extinct predecessor. Andrew described how and why the beaver
became our national mammal and the very significant role it played in
Canada’s history.
Andrew’s
presentation was an eye-opener for the large virtual audience with lots of
captivating information that many were unaware of.
**Brian
Tozer from the Miramichi area again shares some of his very interesting
repertoire of photos as he travels the backwoods of that area, keeping a
watchful eye out for wildlife with camera in hand to capture the memories.
Brian
shares photos of a lynx. There appears to be a line
that crosses New Brunswick at Miramichi. North of that line is habitat
favoured by the lynx, and south of that line is habitat favoured by the bobcat.
Along that line, both species are seen, and Brian gets observations of both.
Note that Brian’s photographs of the lynx show the black tail tip, the longer hind legs,
the huge paws, and the extended bristles of hair at the ear tip, which are
field marks to help identify the lynx over the bobcat.
Brian
also shares several of his moose observations that show a cow and calf, as well as mature bull moose. One photo shows a massive infestation of winter moose
ticks on a deceased animal. Winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) regularly
cause significant infestations on moose in the winter, falling off in the
spring as part of their life cycle. They are normally not lethal to the moose,
but recent reports from Maine suggest severe infestations can be lethal,
especially to young animals.
Brian
shares a photo of a turkey vulture. This species has become much more
common in the Miramichi area over the past several years.
Brian
is enjoying northern cardinals becoming patrons of his yard birdfeeders.
**A group of rock pigeons that come daily to John Inman’s birdfeeder yard has caught the attention of an American goshawk. The regular red- tailed hawk was waiting for a handout and to the right (in the photo) a young goshawk is waiting for a pigeon meal. raven flew at the goshawk and disturbed it, then the goshawk flew at The red-tailed hawk just ruffled its feathers a bit, but expressed no concern. John has noticed in the past that when a juvenile goshawk shows, the crows move down the hedgerow. But with an adult goshawk, the crows leave the area.
(Editor’s
note: We don’t often get such nice photographs of an American goshawk from
different positions to appreciate identification features.)
**Brian
Stone missed the Auroral display on Monday night and early morning, but
managed to catch some of the secondary display on Tuesday evening, but once
again missed the best of it. Sometimes the best displays are short-lived and
easy to miss. He also photographed the setting crescent Moon (waxing at 5%)
thanks to a notification from Cathy Simon.
In
consultation with Gilles Belliveau, he agreed, commenting, “that the nape of
the bird does look consistently paler gray than the crown in all the
photos. The tail seems to have feathers of varying length, with the outer
tail feathers being significantly shorter. Also, the forehead forms a nearly straight
line from the head to the bill, creating that Roman nose appearance. The
legs appear large and thick.”
These
field marks support identification for a Cooper’s Hawk versus a sharp-shinned hawk,
especially from photographs.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
