Nature Moncton Nature News: June 21 2015

** It’s now time for the beautiful sphinx [sphingidés] and silkworm [saturnidés] moths to be out on their adult, mating, flight periods. Greta Blanchard in Salisbury had a LUNA MOTH visit her home. This large striking, green-coloured beauty has a wingspan of up to 4.5 inches; it’s the first one, Greta has ever encountered.

** Linda Leclerc recently came across a group of bright red and black bugs that had a lady beetle look, but were no match for any of our native lady beetles. They turned out to be nymphs of BURROWING BUGS (Family Cydnidae), as identified by the Bug Guide website.

** Brian Coyle came across two SONG SPARROW [Bruant chanteur] nests on Saturday near his Upper Mountain Road home. They were both in low shrubs, quite near one another, approximately 2 feet off the ground. An exiting female alerted him to the nests. He snapped a quick photo of one nest with 4 eggs.

** Anne Marsch visited the Sackville Waterfowl Park on Saturday. She noted CANADA GOOSE [Bernache du Canada] goslings getting quite large now, a PIED-BILLED GREBE [Grèbe à bec bigarré] with 3 chicks that made a fast exit when a MUSKRAT [Rat musqué] entered their space, Pied-billed Grebe with fish prey in its bill, and a SORA [Marouette de Caroline].

** Penny Clark got a photo of the active BALD EAGLE [Pygargue à tête blanche] nest at Camp Wildwood, near McKees Mills. They thought they saw the head of an eaglet. The nest has been at this site for several years, producing young most years.

** Susan Linkletter has had a mostly white duck travelling with MALLARD [Canard colvert] ducks around her Scott Road farm fields. It could be an albinistic Mallard, but domestic escapees or a hybrid is possible. It seems to have the general shape and size of a Mallard and is hanging out closely with this species.

** Brian Stone shares some photos from a visit to Cornhill Nursery recently; they include CANADIAN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL [Papillon tigré du Canada] and NORTHERN CRESCENT [Croissant nordique] butterflies, EASTERN KINGBIRD [Tyran tritri] seemingly very content for the summer here, PINE SISKIN [Tarin des pins], HUMMINGBIRD CLEARWING MOTH [Sphinx colibr] and a female AMERICAN REDSTART [Paruline flamboyante].

** Aldo Dorio came across a RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] with 8 chicks in tow at Malpec on Friday. It’s that time.

** In her Sackville pond, Louise Nichols recently photographed a GREEN FROG [Grenouille verte] with blue areas on its body. Consulting with John Gilhen, he comments that this is occasionally seen in Green Frogs and Bullfrogs. John and a Dr. Russell have been studying this and in the near future will be coming out with a scientific paper to shed some light on what this may indicate.

** It was pleasant to make a visit to Hay Island Park at Neguac on Friday. There were many NELSON'S SPARROWS [Bruant de Nelson] calling but I was only able to get one very distant documentary photo. There were a lot of WILLETS [Chevalier semipalmé] there, moving about and calling their name.

Nelson Poirier

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nature Moncton