Nature Moncton Nature News: October 31 2026

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.

If you would like to share observations/photos with Nature News, contact the editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**A very interesting message came in from Jim Wilson about the bird Brian Coyle got a brief view of with his video camera and posted yesterday.

Jim looked at Brian Coyle’s videos and feels the suspected sora is actually an immature purple gallinule.

Jim comments, “It looked suspicious when I looked at the video but was hard to see because the bird moves swiftly away. So I took a quick photo with my cell phone as soon as the video started, and it shows an immature gallinule quite clearly.

I see that another immature purple gallinule was reported to eBird by John Fletcher, videotaped on Wednesday of this week (28^th) at a beaver pond at Beaverdam, west of Fredericton.”

The video link that appeared yesterday is repeated below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jhceh1rv8p2sgvd1il57c/SORA.-OCT.-29-2026.-BRIAN-COYLE.mp4?rlkey=aun4tpw5tq493cxfiphrko9tm&st=p5f2upld&dl=0

(Editor's note: the purple gallinule is an uncommon vagrant visitor to New Brunswick. It breeds in the southeastern US, but wanderers are seen in all seasons far North of its home range.)

**What a difference a day can make on the forest floor!

Nelson Poirier was on a woods trail on Wednesday and returned on Thursday to find it looked like someone had laid a carpet all over the forest floor. Of course someone did! Mother Nature sent a breeze through the tamarack trees, causing many needles to fall to the ground and form a perfect carpet. In a short time, all the needles will decay to enrich the forest floor.

TAMARACK NEEDLE CARPET. OCT 30, 2026. NELSON POIRIER

**The New Brunswick environmental network publishes a list of events they are aware of on the first of each month. This list is below; to learn more about an event, click it to open it.

Upcoming Events for the Month of November