Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 17 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, October 17, 2017 ( Tuesday )

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nelson@nb.sympatico.ca . Please advise if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** The October Nature Moncton meeting will take place this evening, Tuesday, October 17 at 7:00 pm. at the Mapleton Park Rotary Pavilion across from Cabela's. The main presenter, Wayne Harrington, will give an outline of the many walking trails in the city area. The write-up is attached. The second half of the meeting will be reserved, as usual, for any upcoming activities and short presentations from members or guests or any past or upcoming items they are willing to share.

NATURE MONCTON OCTOBER Presentation.

October 17, 2017 at 7pm
Location: Mapleton Park Lodge, off Cabela Dr.
Presenter: Wayne Harrigan.
Topic: The Greater Moncton Walking Group

The Greater Moncton Walking Group has been around since October 2005. It started because walking in the fresh air is healthy and pleasant and the bonus is the added fun of walking regularly with others. Usually the walks last about 60 minutes, but that's flexible.
Who participates? Everyone is welcome. Participants walk at their own rate and at their own risk.
For this presentation, Wayne Harrigan will talk about the various trails in Moncton used by the walking group when they take their walks every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 am. Be sure to attend if you want to learn more about this group and more about walking opportunities in the Greater Moncton area.

**If you want to know where the group is walking at any time, just phone Wayne Harrigan at 386-2187 or e-mail wbharrig@nb.sympatico.ca

** Dale Gaskin reports that the truckload of black oil sunflower seed will not be arriving until the November Nature Moncton meeting on November 15. Dale has 60 bags reserved as of now, but says there is still room for more if folks want them. They are 15 Kg bags priced at $15.00, and you can reserve bags if you have not already done so with Dale at telephone number 734-2197.

** Donna Stephenson had an adult, male WESTERN TANAGER [Tangara à tête rouge] visit her family's birdfeeders at Lower Hainesville near Fredericton from May 12 to May 14 in 2014. At the time Donna felt that it was a bird that she had not seen before and snapped a photo, but was not aware that it was a rare bird visitor to New Brunswick. Donna is sharing her photos to remind us all what this special visitor looks like so we can be aware if one should drop by any of our feeder yards and can be reported. This specimen, being an adult male, shows the red blush on the head as well as the two wing bars. The front bar being yellow and the hind bar being white. The Western Tanager is the only Tanager to exhibit wing bars. Thanks to Brian Stone for passing along the timeline details of the photos.

** Judy Nevin of Riverview has an interesting scenario with a wasp's nest this past summer. They built an underground nest right beside the walkway of their front door and were busy all summer up until recently. The Nevins used the walkway and front door normally, making no effort to avoid them. They would fly around their legs as they came and went. I was surprised to hear of this scenario as normally wasps can get quite aggressive, especially at this time of year. I dropped by to see it as I thought it might be some other non-aggressive species. They were totally non-aggressive and I was able to collect some for photographs for identification, and they turned out to be a generic version of Vespidae wasps obviously treating their nest as if without any threats. All except the queen of the colony will be off to wasp heaven as the ground freezes.

** I had to wonder why I even turned on the moth light with frost predicted, however I did so and this lone moth showed up. Jim Edsall advises that this is the IRIS BORER moth and he has had one at his Dartmouth moth light as well. It won't take any beauty pageants but a photo is attached.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton