**Many of the female Spiders [Araignée] are big and beautiful this
time of year. Donat Robichaud got a photo of a MARBLED ORB WEAVER [Araneus
marmoreus] near his Russellville Rd. home on October
12th.
**Dave Christie walked near the Mary’s Point shore on Saturday
evening at 6:00 pm when the sun broke out after a violent afternoon of rain and
wind. Fifty CEDAR WAXWINGS [Jaseur d'Amérique] and twenty AMERICAN ROBINS [Merle
d'Amérique] were harvesting the Mountain Ash [Sorbier des oiseaux] near the
shore. As he approached, the Cedar Waxwings flew off but the Robins stayed put,
feeding or just moving to another tree. The Mountain Ash berry crop is dwindling
in that area.
**Aldo Dorio recently shared some photos of some BONAPARTE'S GULLS
[Mouette de Bonaparte] with a COMMON TERN [Sterne pierregarin] floating on the
water with them. Gilles Belliveau points out an interesting feature of the
Common Tern to help identify it: the dark carpal bar is found in all plumages
except breeding plumage adults in both Common and ARCTIC TERNS [Sterne
arctique]. However, it is much more prominent on the Common Tern. In flight this
would be a dark bar from the leading edge from the base of the wing going almost
to the elbow or carpal joint. Based on what Gilles has noted in field guides,
these are the only two species in North America that have it. Those photos are
reattached today, pointing out that carpal bar.
**The October meeting of Nature Moncton will take place this
coming Tuesday night, October 20th, at the Mapleton Park Rotary
Pavilion across from Cabela’s, at 7:00 pm. Guest speaker will be André Bourque
from Ski Codiac, who will cover location and clubs of cross-country ski within
100 km of Moncton and expand on the use of these trails. It will also be great
to know the location of these trails for hikes and field trips in other seasons.
André’s presentation starts at 7:00 sharp and as always, all are
welcome.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
COMMON TERN SHOWING CARPEL BAR..OCT, 2015.ALDO DORIO
COMMON TERN SHOWING CARPEL BAR..OCT, 2015.ALDO DORIO
MARBLED ORBWEAVER SPIDER (Araneus marmoreus).OCT 12, 2015.DONAT ROBICHAUD.
