Nature Moncton Information Line

Tuesday, 16 July 2019

July 16 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 16, 2019 (Tuesday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca

Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check into the website at www.naturemoncton.com

Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com.

** Brian Bauld mentioned in an earlier edition an angry female duck putting the run to a GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] she probably felt was too close to her brood in the Lars Larson Marsh in Harvey. He got a photo of the startled heron and the on-attack mode duck. Brian comments he also tallied 10 WOOD DUCKS [Canard branchu] in that marsh on the same day.

** Jane LeBlanc got a photo of a PREDATORY STINK BUG confronting a MONARCH BUTTERFLY [Monarque] caterpillar. BugGuide just recently answered the query, so I’m not sure whether this was published last year or not, but a reminder anyway with all the Monarch Butterfly interest at the moment.

** The larger moths are still appearing. I had a recent visit from a WAVED SPHINX MOTH [Sphinx nodule], maybe one of the less colourful of the sphinxes, but still a bit of a show stopper in size and design.

** I’m attaching a few photos of some blooming plants on a recent botany outing: a MONKEY FLOWER, SEA MILKWORT, WINTERBERRY HOLLY, and HEDGE BINDWEED.

A female MONARCH BUTTERFLY [Monarque] returned to our yard milkweed patches on Monday in between showers to leave at least 6 eggs. They were collected with the hole punch method to hatch in 4 or 5 days and join the now 18 caterpillars voraciously chowing down on indoor Swamp Milkweed. At 4-days old, they are taking on colour, and looking like leprechaun Monarch caterpillars. An indoor food supply shortage could be looming!

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton

DUCK ATTACKING GREAT BLUE HERON. JULY 9 2019. BRIAN BAULD

HEDGE BINDWEED. JULY 14, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

MONARCH BUTTERFLY EGG COLLECTION .JULY 15, 2019. KATHY BREATON

MONKEY FLOWER. JULY 14, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

PREDATORY STINK BUG. AUG 8, 2018. JANE LeBLANC

SEA MILKWORT. JULY 14, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

WAVED SPHINX MOTH. JULY 15, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

WINTERBERRY HOLLY. JULY 14, 2019. NELSON POIRIER

Monday, 15 July 2019

July 15 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 15, 2019 (Monday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition, go to <http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca> .

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Please advise the editor if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling. Note that corrections, deletions, or delayed additions may not always appear on the Info Line and email transcript but will always appear on the BlogSpot. For this reason, it is recommended that those wishing to look at historical records use the BlogSpot rather than the email transcript. The BlogSpot can always be accessed from the website.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at <http://naturemoncton.com> .

Edited by Nelson Poirier, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Transcript by David Christie, <maryspt@mac.com>

Info Line #: 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Dave Christie did a shorebird check on Sunday morning at high tide on the Mary’s Point beach and saw 8 shorebirds. 7 of them appeared to be peeps and there was one adult SEMIPALMATED PLOVER [Pluvier semipalmé]. Lighting did not allow certain identification of the peeps but general profile suggested at least two were SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau semipalmé] and a few more seemed small enough to be LEAST SANDPIPERS [Bécasseau minuscule].

** David and Anita Cannon continue to have salamanders and newts visit their outdoor swimming pool. On Sunday morning a Red Eft stage of the EASTERN NEWT [Triton vert] appeared. The Red Eft stage spends up to three years on land after hatching from the egg laid by the adult that lives in water. The specimen in David’s excellent photo may be in its later time on land and about to return to a water-living state.

They also found an ant nest in a 6 by 6 hemlock block torn apart by something that appeared to leave no trace of what it was, but a BLACK BEAR [Ours noir] would have to be on the rule-off list.

** Rhéal Vienneau saw a male MONARCH [Monarque] butterfly nectaring on his Dieppe MILKWEED [asclépiade] patch on Sunday, but when checking more closely also spotted a spider which is quite possibly waiting for Monarch butterfly activity as well!

** Jean-Paul LeBlanc shares some very anxious looking nestling TREE SWALLOWS [Hirondelle bicolore] nestlings being fed last week. This family has now successfully fledged.

** Aldo Dorio got a portrait of a COMMON TERN [Sterne pierregarin] at Hay Island on Sunday, nicely showing its plumage features.

** Brian Stone shares some parting photos from his Perth, Ontario visit to include the butterflies LITTLE WOOD-SATYR [Petit satyre des bois], EASTERN TAILED BLUE [Bleu porte-queue de l’Est], NORTHERN PEARLY EYE [Satyre perlé] and DUNN SKIPPER [Hespérie rurale]. Dragonflies included a COMMON WHITE-TAIL [La Lydienne] and a TWELVE-SPOTTED SKIMMER [Libellule gracieuse]. A photo of HONEY BEES [abeille à miel] nicely shows their elongated, torpedo-shaped body versus the rounded, stouter body of BUMBLEBEES [bourdon].

Nelson Poirier, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>,

Nature Moncton

ANT NEST INVADED BY MYSTERY CRITTER. JULY 14, 2019. DAVID CANNON

COMMON TERN. JULY 14, 2019. ALDO DORIO

COMMON WHITETAIL DRAGONFLY. JULY 13, 2019. BRIAN STONE

DUN SKIPPER BUTTERFLY. JULY 13, 2019., BRIAN STONE

EASTERN NEWT (RED EFT STAGE). JULY 14, 2019. DAVID CANNON

EASTERN TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY. JULY 13, 2019. BRIAN STONE

HONEY BEES. JULY 10, 2019. BRIAN STONE

LITTLE WOOD SATYR BUTTERFLY. JULY 13, 2019. BRIAN STONE

NORTHERN PEARLY EYE BUTTERFLY. JULY 12, 2019. BRIAN STONE

SPIDER ON COMMON MILKWEED. JULY 14, 2019. RHEAL VIENNEAU

TREE SWALLOW FEEDING YOUNG. JULY 6, 2019. JP LEBLANC

TWELVE-SPOTTED SKIMMER DRAGONFLY. JULY 10, 2019. BRIAN STONE

Sunday, 14 July 2019

July 14 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 14, 2019 (Sunday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition, go to <http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca> .

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at <http://naturemoncton.com> .

Edited by Nelson Poirier, <nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com>

Transcript by David Christie, <maryspt@mac.com>

Info Line #: 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Brian Bauld shares some photos he got recently at the Lars Larsen Marsh in the Mary’s Point area. He got a series of a GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron] wrestling with a large AMERICAN EEL [Anguille d’Amérique], creating quite a ruckus. The heron dropped it three or four times, then made the decision that the effort was not worth it and let its prey go. A day later, Brian watched a duck suddenly explode from the vegetation in the Larsen marsh and attack a Great Blue Heron, which presumably was getting too close to its brood. The heron retreated with a round of squawking.

Brian also got some nice photos of a MOURNING WARBLER [Paruline triste] in the area of the cemetery on Mary’s Point Road. He has never seen this species there during the many summers that he has walked past it. An EASTERN PHOEBE [Moucherolle phébi] was also a nice photo op.

Escuminac Point is a very special location in New Brunswick to make a few summer visits to. A significant portion is now under the arm of the Nature Conservancy to protect this unique habitat. Deana and Peter Gadd spent a few hours at Escuminac Point Saturday afternoon. They saw many Bank Swallows, perhaps 30+. They were still entering and leaving burrows so presumably young are being fed. There were 11 Bonaparte’s Gulls in various phases of age and molting, one still in breeding plumage, so they are in migration already. Peter notes they can winter off our Atlantic coast as well, according to Sibley. A Herring Gull was repeatedly dropping a mollusk on the rocks below to smash it open. They saw Northern Gannets, Common Terns, Black Scoters, Common Eiders, two Gadwalls (which seemed unexpected in salt water) and 10 Spotted Sandpipers as well as a few other species. A very pleasant and action packed visit.

** Jim Johnson reports that his Scotch Settlement yard had over a dozen occupied TREE SWALLOW [Hirondelle bicolore] boxes and an expanding CLIFF SWALLOW [Hirondelle à front blanc] colony that now has several nests fully fledged and others looking like everyone is ready for inaugural flights. A Nature Moncton nest box erected at the community cemetery was promptly occupied and is now fledging young.

** Jane LeBlanc got a photo of a fresh-looking WHITE ADMIRAL [Admiral] butterfly in her St. Martins yard. Jane still has CANADIAN TIGER SWALLOWTAILS [Papillon tigré du Canada] but is still waiting for her first MONARCH [Monarque] butterfly.

** On Sunday, July 7, I reported a female MONARCH butterfly ovipositing on yard Common Milkweed [Asclépiade commune] and Swamp Milkweed [Asclépiade incarnata. They were also laying on both milkweeds last year but I never saw an adult caterpillar, so decided to use a combo of ideas suggested by Rhéal Vienneau, Janet Kempster and Jim Wilson to possibly correct that. A series of photos show what has gone on over the past week. I was ready for the event with an 18-chamber Ice cube tray, with a cover (Dollarama), a one-hole punch (Dollarama), and a 00 artist brush (Michaels). With the hole punch, I cut out every egg I could find (18) and placed them in the chambers of the ice-cube tray. In 4 to 6 days, 90% had hatched, into tiny caterpillars. You could tell when they were about to hatch, as the apex of the egg would turn dark. Apparently they eat the egg shell, which must have happened very quickly, as they were moving about very soon after hatch. I used the 00 artist’s brush to transfer them to the leaves of planted Swamp Milkweed. Most went to the underside of the leaves as they eat the fine hairs on the underside first (pablum!). I placed them on the surface of the leaf but in future will place them on the underside. They attach quickly to the leaf and it’s a bit of a trick to get them off the brush. I’m attaching a photograph of a few of the day-old caterpillars. They’ve only been feeding for a few days, as of Saturday, but this technique does seem to be working so far. Hopefully over a one-month period, if successful there should be chrysalids formed in a few weeks, and adults ready to release for the trip south, by approximately August 7, if the procedure is successful. I imagine there are things that could potentially go wrong but after one week, so far so good. My grandson performed photography duties while some larvae were being transferred.

** Bob Blake keeps a record of morning temperatures and daily high temperatures at nightfall at his Second North River home. His June report comparing 2018 and 2019 is a bit late this month because there was a learning curve to create a table to best show comparisons compactly.

Weather stats for June. This year was much cooler in mornings but warmer afternoons

2O18		2O19
morning temperatures	daily highs and rainfall	morning temperatures	daily highs and rainfall
+5-1day +6-1 +7-5 +9-1 +10-1 +11-1 +12-3 +13-1 +14-4 +15-2 +16-4 +18-1 +20-1 +22-1	+9-1 +10-1 +11-1 +12-4 +14-1 +18-1 +21-1 +23-5 +24-3 +25-3 +26-2 +27-1 +28-1 +29-1 +30-1 +33-1 188mms. rain	+8-1 +9-1 +11-2 +12-4 +13-4 +14-4 +15-3 +16-7 +17-3 +19-1	+15-1 +16-1 +17-2 +18-2 +19-1 +20-2 +21-1 +22-3 +24-2 +25-4 +26-5 +27-3 190mms. rain