Fall Colours

Fall Colours At Their Peak

Panorama of NB Fall Colours

Our autumn colours are now at their peak.  Just stepping out the door gives one a fabulous view.  How magnificent the colours look on a sunny day!  Although it is difficult (and impossible in my view) to capture that beauty on camera, I am showing some of my photos to try to show off some of our splendour.

School Road, Scotch Lake

The colours are best in hardwood or predominantly hardwood habitats.  The sugar maples turn red and orange; the red maples are red or yellow; the oaks and beeches are brown, the birches and poplars are yellow.  Add to that the many shades of each of these colours and mix them with a multitude of shades of green from the yellow greens of deciduous leaves just beginning to turn to the dark cool greens of softwood trees and you have a bonanza of colour.  Nature has a way of doing it best!

Red Maple and Birch Leaves Against Spruce

Coverall Road

Trail to Howland Falls

Nature is putting on a magnificent show before it drops its leaves and goes dormant for the winter months.  Now is the time to get out and enjoy it.  And while you are at it, you just might catch one of our spectacular sunsets, like the one shown below seen recently.

 

Sunset Taken in Fredericton, 2016

Fall Bluebirds

The Bluebirds Are Still Here 

Eastern Bluebird - Male

Fall might be upon us but the Eastern Bluebirds are still here.  That is good news.  These beautiful small, colourful thrushes are still flitting around orchards and meadows looking for food and training their young, getting ready for migration.  We were lucky to find a small flock of these neat birds near Fredericton yesterday.  It was a warm  sunny day and the bluebirds were making the most of the many insects flying around.  They were moving actively between an orchard and the hydro poles and wires.  They treated us with their presence.

Eastern Bluebirds, like most birds at this time of year, are in their basic (alternate) plumage.  The bright feathers of the breeding plumage are mostly gone.  That makes it difficult to see the brilliant blue of this species.  They are still beautiful, however, with the deep orange breasts and muted gray blue on their heads and backs.

The male and female bluebirds differ slightly.  The female is duller and shows white on the throat and a more pronounced eyering.  Shown above is the male in basic plumage.  Note the solid orange on the throat and the gray-blue on the head.  The brilliant blue head of spring's breeding plumage is now gone.

Eastern Bluebird - Male

Shown above is also a male.  Note the solid orange throat and the bright blue on the wing feathers.  If this were spring, the entire head and back would be brilliant iridescent blue.

Eastern Bluebird - Female

Shown above is the female in basic plumage.  Note the more pronounced eyering and the whitish throat.  The orange breast and gray on the head and back are also duller than in the male.

An interesting fact about Eastern Bluebirds is that if a predator or other danger appears and no male is around, the female will sing a specific song in order to alert the male and have him return to protect her.  

The bluebirds will soon be leaving.  October is the time for them to migrate south.  Our birds will spend the winter in the eastern US south of Vermont or Massachusetts.

Late Fall Warblers

A Few Lingering Species

I recently checked out the few species of fall warblers remaining in my area.  They were well hidden in the foliage but so enjoyable to see.  Most warblers migrate in late August and early September.  Each year there are always a few stragglers.  It was these I was looking for.

 

Palm Warbler

Warblers lose the bright colours of their breeding plumage in late summer.  They turn more muted, often more yellowish and some even show a dramatic change.  This makes fall warblers difficult to identify.  Experience is the best teacher.  Just getting out and seeing many warblers helps one learn to identify fall warblers.  Shown above is a Palm Warbler in fall (or basic) plumage.  The bright yellow body feathers are muted and the bright rusty cap is nearly gone.  I saw many of them in one area which would indicate they were migrating together.

Black-and-white Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Both the Black-and-white Warbler and the Common Yellowthroat shown above are in basic plumage.  The Black-and-white looks ratty and it has lost the sharp demarcation between the stripes.  The Common Yellowthroat is much more muted.  The brilliant yellow is gone and the black mask is barely discernible.  Often the species can be recognized by their habitat, their behaviour and the way they move.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is also in basic plumage and is very muted in colour.  The bright yellow spots of spring are still visible but much less so.  The dark colours are washed out.

The Blue-headed Vireo is still around in small numbers.  As shown below, it is still showing its breeding plumage although it is just beginning to look a bit muted.

Blue-headed Vireo

Fall warblers, though a challenge to identify,  make interesting birding.  Get yourself a good guide to birds and go outside and find a few.  You will enjoy it!

Plein Air Painting

Painting Outdoors

I have been lucky to paint en plein air in the last two weeks.  It has been enjoyable.  Painting en plein air or out-of-doors in nature under the elements is a challenge but a good experience.  I recently spent a week in Nova Scotia which included a 2-day workshop in Chester under the tutelage of Poppy Balser, a watercolour artist from Digby.  She put on a wonderful event for 12 students where we painted ocean scenes mainly from the front veranda of the Chester Yacht Club.  There was a wonderful view there of the harbour with many sailboats of various kinds and yachts moored out front.  Below is a view of the Chester Harbour from the Yacht Club.  The sun was brilliant that day making interesting white ripples on the water.

Chester Harbour from Yacht Club

Shown below is another view showing the west side of the harbour.

Chester Harbour

Paint the Past was held at Kings Landing, NB this past weekend.  It is an annual event where juried artists set up and paint relevant scenes from the Landing over two days.  It is a fund raiser for the Kings Landing Foundation.  Twenty-one artists were there and about 55 paintings were framed and on display at the reception held late Sunday afternoon.  The paintings were judged by a panel and the winning painting was done by Sharon Levesque.  Congratulations, Sharon!

Shown below are the two I painted.  The Lint House was done in bright light.  It is a very old, small house, built in 1830.  I sat in the garden to paint this one with apples falling from the tree over my head.  The wagons were dropping off and picking up passengers right across the fence from me making dust and lots of excited conversation from the happy people.

The Lint House

The second day was very rainy so I painted from inside St. Mark's Church.  It was dark in there because there were no lights, of course, it being a 19th century building.  I enjoyed the ambiance there for the time I worked inside.

St. Mark's Church, Kings Landing

"Plein air painting is much more difficult than painting in the studio."  I heard that comment many times over the weekend from the artists.  For some it was their first time.  One has to brave the elements, people, weather, etc.  In many cases it is done standing up and the light is also very variable.  Often the scene looks very different when the painting is half done than it was when starting.  Light is a big part of the painting and it changes in plein air work.  That adds to the challenge.

Please note that blowing up paintings in a digital form makes them look different than they are in real form.  Enjoy and consider doing some painting yourselves.

Solitary Sandpiper

The Sandpiper of Muddy Ponds

Solitary Sandpiper

 The Solitary Sandpiper is well named.  It is usually alone or in small groups.  It is unique in that it is often found feeding in small woodland or meadow ponds.  It prefers wet grassy areas and creeks where it feeds on insects, small crustaceans, spiders, mollusks, worms and small frogs.  We see it here in spring and fall migration as it passes from its breeding grounds in northern Quebec and Ontario to its wintering areas in Central and South America.  It also breeds in the northern parts of the rest of the Canadian provinces up to Yukon and Alaska.

The Solitary Sandpiper is a medium-sized sandpiper (length 22 cm/8.5 in).  It has a spotted dark brown back and rump, white underparts with streaks on the neck and sides.  It has a black tail with white barring on the edges.  Birders find it easy to identify by the white eye ring and the greenish bill and legs.  Both male and female birds look alike.

Solitary Sandpiper

The Solitary Sandpiper has some interesting behaviours.  When it lands it often holds its wings up showing its dark underwings.  It is the only sandpiper that nests in abandoned songbird nests.  It lays its olive eggs marked with brown spots in abandoned Rusty Blackbird, Bohemian Waxwing, Gray Jay or American Robin nests.  It will also build its own nest.

Solitary Sandpiper

 Even though this species is fairly easy to identify, here we have to differentiate it from two species which may be found in similar habitat; Spotted Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs.  The Lesser Yellowlegs is about the same size but it is grayer in colour and it has bright yellow legs.  The Spotted Sandpiper is a smaller bird with a white eyebrow not an eye ring, breast spots in the spring and no streaks on the sides and neck in the fall.  It also has yellow legs.   

The Solitary Sandpiper was first described in 1813 by Alexander Wilson but its nest was not discovered until 1903.  Before that it was confused with the Spotted Sandpiper.  

Banding/Tagging Plovers

Tagged Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover

 Above is a Semipalmated Plover.  I saw many of these on a recent trip to the Acadian Peninsula along with many other species of shorebirds.  Shorebird migration is well along now and such species as Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plovers, etc. are common on our sandy, muddy ocean shores.

On Miscou Island near Wilson's Point I saw a tagged Semipalmated Plover among the many 'peeps'.  It appeared to have a flag (tag) on its left leg.  With special binocular focusing I could read the number on the tag, 'EE4'.  I photographed the bird to confirm my report.

Tagged Semipalmated Plover

The top photo above shows a Semipalmated Plover in breeding plumage.  Immediately above shows the tagged plover which is in basic plumage.  That means it has changed its plumage to a less dramatic colouring which is normal for late summer.  It basically has a new set of feathers making it ready for its long flight to wintering grounds along the southern Atlantic coast of the US and Mexico and the West Indies.

The tagged bird was seen on August 26.  I reported it to the NB Bird Information Line and got a response the same day which referred me to a group who were doing bird banding in New Brunswick.  Here is what I found out.  The bird was tagged 3 weeks before in the same area.  At the time of tagging it was underweight.  That is often the case in newly arrived birds.  They usually remain in the same area to feed and gain weight before their next long flight.  That is what this bird was doing; resting in the same area and feeding heavily.  The information I provided also showed that the bird was doing well and enabled the team to check their transmission towers information accuracy which confirmed the location of the bird.

Tagged Semipalmated Plover

This plover has a tag (flag) on its left leg above the tarsus, a band on its right leg and a transmitter on its back feathers.  The tag and the band can be seen in the two photos above.  The transmitter cannot be seen but a fine wire running from it to the ground behind the bird can be seen on careful scrutiny.  The transmitter is temporary.  It will be shed at the next molt.  My observation of this bird showed the bird is coping well with its tags and transmitter and is contributing to the study on bird movements and feeding areas.  The data from this study will contribute to our understanding and protection of shorebird activity and movements.

The team studying shorebird migration which banded this bird is from Mount Allison University working in collaboration with the Canadian Wildlife Service.  They were happy to receive information on this bird.  Tagged birds should be reported to bandedbirds.org.

Red Knot

Migrating Shorebirds Bring a Variety of Species

Red Knot

Our sandy coastal shorelines are feeding grounds for many species of migrating shorebirds this time of year.  It is interesting to watch them as they feed.  We have over a dozen species of shorebirds bulking up here before they continue their journeys south.

One interesting species is the Red Knot.  This species was newsworthy a few years ago because of its staging area in Delaware Bay (more on that later).  It uses our shorelines to feed on mollusks, worms, snails, seeds and gastropods.  It is found only in small flocks here as the population makes its way south.  

The Red Knot breeds in our high Arctic islands where it nests on tundra.  It winters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of southern USA and also in Central and South America.  It also lives in Europe and Asia.  

Red Knot

The Red Knot is a medium-sized shorebird.  It is larger than the 'peeps' (Semipalmated Sandpiper, for example) but smaller than the Yellowlegs and Willets.  It appears here only in its winter (basic) plumage. That is too bad because it is really beautiful in its breeding plumage, with a bright reddish face and breast and a speckled brownish and grayish back.  

In its winter plumage, as seen in the photo above, it appears overall grayish.  Of note are its medium-length black bill, dark legs, white underparts with gray spots and streaks going up the sides and neck. A good identifying feature is the gray chevrons or streaks along the white sides.  In flight it shows a long wing with a gray lining and a fine white line above.  The tail and rump are gray.

Red Knot

The Red Knot has been made famous by the media due to its staging area in Delaware Bay, USA.  As much as 90% of the entire population gathers there to feed.  This is one of its main staging areas and there it feeds on horseshoe crab eggs.  These are energy rich and give the birds enough energy to complete their flights southward.  The problem arose when horseshoe crab fishermen overfished the crabs, depleting the food source for the knots.  Through good  horseshoe crab management in the US, the problem is resolved for now.  The crabs are very important in the ecology of coastal areas.

The horseshoe crab is important in the medical industry for sterility testing in medical equipment and intravenous drugs.  Also, research on their eyes has provided a better understanding of human vision.  

We will continue to have problems when human 'needs' interfere with the ecology of our native species.  Education and good management hopefully will avoid serious effects on the birds.