We had more Warblers and a greater variety pass through our Meadowlands subdivision in Lower Sackville yard than ever before:
Yellow, Black and White, Redstart, Blackpoll, Tennessee, Yellow-rumps (still here), Chestnut-sided, and Northern Parula, and toss-in Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos and Monarch butterflies to round-out the adventure.
Was this also common in other urban areas?
Andy Stadnyk
Lower Sackville
Hi,
I have not received any NatureNS messages since Monday, September 13, 2021. I asked a colleague to post a message to the group and let me know via another E-mail account, and he said it showed up but I never received it.
Is there any advice you can offer? I have not deliberately changed any of my filters or settings.
Thanks very much,
A. Woolaver
Dear All,
The calm warm conditions and many suitable flowers; Aster,
Solidago, Erigeron, Mentha and others in the yard drew Honey Bees in
full force this afternoon plus a few Bumble Bees.
For some months now I have noticed browning of Maple leaves in the
neighborhood but not elsewhere. The upper leaves of large trees tend to
be affected first but some leaves of smaller trees, which can be readily
examined, have similar browning; usually starting at the margins and
working inward. I can see no indication of insect activity or fungal
growth and wonder if air pollution caused this. For 3 or more months
this year, drains and pavement of a street to the east were being
renovated mostly with Diesel equipment.
Dave, Kentville
Here is an article from Birdwatcher's Digest. I remember Ian MacLaren
having a rare hummingbird in his backyard late in the season. My
neighbour just saw one looking for my feeder which I had taken down to
clean. It could have been a Calliope or Anna's or something (I wish).
It is back up now
https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/autumn-is-her…
Don
--
Don MacNeill donmacneill(a)bellaliant.net
Dave and I have been having a discussion on birds planting nuts. We both
missed the naturens email address so I'm sharing our discussion now. You
could start with my reply to Dave, further below, to make it logical.
Rick W.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: David Webster <dwebster(a)glinx.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Sept 2021 at 20:40
Subject: Re: [Naturens] Floppy Phargmites and "Beech farming" by Blue Jays
To: Rick Whitman <dendroica.caerulescens(a)gmail.com>
Hi Rick and All,
Point taken. I think you are correct. They stick the nuts in soft soil
to find later and those which remain may become Beech seedlings.
The young Beech are all just at the edge if my narrow roads. And in
locations which are moist to very wet except in dry periods of summer. So
the nuts get hidden where it takes minimum effort.
There are no Beech on my woodlot which are old enough to bear nuts and
all young trees are located as described above. I am not sure where these
nuts come from but suspect slopes of a very steep ravine to the west which
I clambered up with Alison about 1958. Any tree which grows there will die
of fire or a natural death as opposed to being cut.
What became my woods had been clear cut about 1950, of anything worth
carting out, and when we first walked across the top of the initial rise,
in about 1958, it was cow pasture with a smattering of small trees. By 1981
when I bought the woodlot there were only two Beech on the 65-70 acres; one
entirely dead and one barely alive. So it is good to see another wave of
Beech being established.
Dave Kentville
On 9/16/2021 6:53 PM, Rick Whitman wrote:
"It has occurred to me that moving nuts, from a remote location, and
planting them in more
promising locations is a primitive form of agriculture."
Hi Dave,
If you had written "unintentional form of agriculture", I wouldn't have any
issue with that. Surely, squirrels and corvids are significant, critical
tree seed planters.
But if the term "primitive form" implies intention or comprehension of the
result, by the blue jays, other corvids (or squirrels), I think you are
ahead of any science that I've ever read. It's quite important here to
realize that Corvids have amazing memory. They bury all of these nuts for
winter food and they re-find an amazing fraction of those, when they want
them. The ones they forget or the ones buried by birds that die will lead
to new seedlings. But I don't see that as primitive agriculture.
"Co-evolution" would probably be a better concept.
"A Clark’s nutcracker will cache on the order of 50 to 80,000 seeds each
autumn, and return to them over the course of the winter. They’ll cache 2-4
seeds in each location, meaning they’ll remember approximately 20,000
different seed locations."
https://www.ayellowstonelife.com/clarks-nutcrackers-marvelous-memory/
Regards,
Rick
On Thu, 16 Sept 2021 at 11:00, David Webster <dwebster(a)glinx.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> The Phragmites this year has nearly all flopped over so that the
> upper third is looking down in many cases. I am guessing that this is
> due to a diminished uptake of Silicon early this year due to the
> initially dry conditions. Those which came up after the soil was wet up
> are erect or leaning only slightly.
>
> My young Beech in North Alton presumably planted as Beech nuts,
> from a remote source, by Blue Jays are still fine. It has occurred to me
> that moving nuts, from a remote location, and planting them in more
> promising locations is a primitive form of agriculture.
>
> I have seen nothing recently about the condition of Beech trees
> elsewhere. Have some/most recovered or died ?
>
> Dave, Kentville
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Naturens mailing list -- naturens(a)chebucto.ns.ca
> To unsubscribe send an email to naturens-leave(a)chebucto.ns.ca
>
Dear All,
The Phragmites this year has nearly all flopped over so that the
upper third is looking down in many cases. I am guessing that this is
due to a diminished uptake of Silicon early this year due to the
initially dry conditions. Those which came up after the soil was wet up
are erect or leaning only slightly.
My young Beech in North Alton presumably planted as Beech nuts,
from a remote source, by Blue Jays are still fine. It has occurred to me
that moving nuts, from a remote location, and planting them in more
promising locations is a primitive form of agriculture.
I have seen nothing recently about the condition of Beech trees
elsewhere. Have some/most recovered or died ?
Dave, Kentville
Sylvia Fullerton and I found an eastern kingbird at Broad Cove yesterday.
Today Barbara McLean located a great egret and a snowy egret at the Back Oler Farm Marsh in Garden Lots.
James R. Hirtle
LaHave
The most plentiful migrant that I saw today was cedar waxwings. Everywhere between Briar Island and Queens County. Did not see any after entering Lunenburg County. Other migrants little to none. There was very little warbler movement at all along Digby Neck. I found a few at Mink Cove. The road is washed out by the way. So, one can no longer drive down with a vehicle. You have to park and walk in. This is my favourite spot along Digby Neck for migrants. Today only singles of common yellowthroat, black-throated green warbler, yellow warbler and magnolia warbler. There was one red-eyed vireo there. I also saw a turkey vulture and an adult and immature bald eagle. The only other warbler I came across with birding Gulliver's Cove, Marsh Road, and Bear River was more yellow warblers. Marsh Road was virtually dead other than and adult and juvenile bald eagle. Usually there are loads of migrants along the road, but all I could find were song sparrows.. Other raptors seen were one American kestrel and two sharp-shinned hawks. I ended up with 49 species for the day, but a lot of them were only of single observation. There was a nice group of 100 common grackles and 30 red-winged blackbirds at West Clifford.
James R. Hirtle
LaHave
This summer I have had peanut and a black sunflower feeders up. They
have afforded me a lot of pleasure during the pandemic and lock-downs.
They have probably kept me sane.
A pair of chickadees nested in my neighbours nest box and had young.
When fledged, they disappeared from the yard for a while as they feasted
on insects. They soon returned though and are now frequenting both feeders.
A pair of cardinals are regular visitors. I have cages around my
feeders to keep out larger birds like starlings and Blue Jays. The
female cardinal can get in to the cage and does frequently, but I have
never seen the male go in. He feeds on spillage on the ground.
Song Sparrows had young and they all frequent both feeders as well as
running around the lawn to catch insects. They look like mice.
Both feeders have attracted Downy Woodpeckers. They make menacing
motions whenever other birds come near even though there is plenty for
everyone. The only finches I see are a couple of goldfinches that come
sporadically. Starlings, Mourning Doves and pigeons appear briefly to
eat any spillage. Occasional visitors are Common Grackles and Northern
Flickers.
The most unusual birds were a pair of Mallards. They landed in our
backyard , close to the Halifax Shopping Centre in Halifax in March.
They walked over to our small, 6'x4', pond and went in for a swim. They
didn't stay long as they probably found it too confining.
I watch for sick birds daily but have seen none. Overall, it has kept
me close to nature and brightened my days.
I spell-checked this post and was told my name should be MacMillan.
Don
--
Don MacNeill donmacneill(a)bellaliant.net
This evening (Sept 7, 6:00 pm) we saw a group of eight Turkey Vultures
soaring over Waverley. They were travelling in a general westerly direction.
That's the most we have ever seen here. The previous max was three
birds, IIRC.
--- Peter Payzant
