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The good news is that
there are lots of interesting things to happen before the time changes again!
**Deanna Fenwick took a
drive to Cape Tormentine to see what was around. On the way, she first
stopped at Baie Verte, where a great blue heron was fishing successfully.
There were also some greater yellowlegs; some were hanging out with the mallard
ducks. Farther off, there were some hooded mergansers, and of course
the ever-present Canada geese. At Cape Tormentine, Deanna spotted some common
eiders very far out, as well as long-tailed ducks and several double-crested
cormorants.
In the marsh at Bayfield, two
more great blue herons and about 30 American wigeons were present.
**Jane LeBlanc had a good
yard bird day on Saturday. First, about 50 common grackles showed up with a red-winged
blackbird among them. Then a pair of northern cardinals showed up,
and it was the first time this season she has seen the female. Then a female
purple finch appeared; again, it was the first finch she has seen this season.
**Barbara Smith wanted to
draw readers' attention to a recent episode of the CBC Radio show Quirks
and Quarks, which featured a lively interview with an ecologist who has
been studying bogs for 30 years. Merritt Turetsky wrote a book called Bogland
that explores the strange beauty of these wetlands and the plants that survive
and thrive there, including mosses and carnivorous plants. She
absolutely loves bogs and wants others to appreciate these forlorn and
friendless places too.
(New Brunswick is rich in
peat bogs along the Acadian Peninsula, but huge swaths of sphagnum moss and
peat are being stripped every year for the gardening and agricultural sectors.
It takes thousands of years to form bogs and no time at all to destroy them.)
Given that bogs take up a
mere 3 percent of Earth's landmass but sequester more than one-third of the
Earth's soil carbon -- more than all of Earth's forests combined -- Turetsky
argues that bogs all over the world are essential in mitigating climate change
and worth protecting.
The interview appears at
about the 18-minute mark in the episode.
There's also a link to the
book for anyone interested.
https://www.indigo.ca/products/bogland-the-secret-world-that-defies-death-and-protects-life
**Brian and Annette Stone
got some fresh air and exercise at Highland Park in Salisbury on Saturday
afternoon. The ponds were not busy but had several small groups of
green-winged teal ducks and one small group of hooded mergansers. The
mergansers were far away and backlit, so no photos, but Brian did photograph
three of the teals doing their rude dabbling display. A pair of female mallard
ducks were swimming together in the smallest pond, and Brian noticed some
extra branches added at the beaver lodge to possibly indicate more
activity. A female pileated woodpecker was checking out a power pole,
and nearby some American robins were foraging on mountain ash berries as a
badly branch-bombed female northern cardinal looked on. Brian's bird of
the day was a photo of a group of 10 or more white-winged crossbills that
perched briefly before flying off.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
