Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 4 2018

Nature Moncton Information Line – August 4, 2018 (Saturday)

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

Transcript by: Catherine Clements

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

**Phil Riebel came across an interesting Moth in their Miramichi flower bed on Friday evening at dusk: the BEDSTRAW HAWK-MOTH, a.k.a. GALLIUM SPHINX MOTH [Sphinx du gaillet]. The wingspan of this uncommonly-seen moth is 55-80 mm, which is much bigger than the Clearwing Moths we see day-flying, imitating Hummingbirds [Colibri]. Its host plants are FIREWEED [Bouquets rouges], BEDSTRAW [Gaillet], and various other plants. It tends to fly at dusk to flowers, but is active by night up until dawn. The large larval caterpillars, at 70-80 mm, can be seen in later summer and fall; they are variable but always have a row of 10 conspicuous eye-like yellow spots and a horn above the tail, which is invariably red. I have never had this moth come to my moth light, and have tried unsuccessfully a few times to grow out a caterpillar, but many others have been successful.

**Louise and Glen Nichols are re-locating to Aulac next spring, to a property that would be on every naturalist’s bucket list. Louise did a round of the property on Friday, to find lots of activity. There is an area of a few acres of bog surrounded by trees. She found a number of BOG COPPER BUTTERFLIES [Cuivré des tourbières] flying on Friday and BOG CRANBERRY [Canneberge]. She got a great photo of the SUNDEW [Rossolis] plant, showing its leaves armed with sticky hairlike structures. When an insect touches the hairs, it is trapped and digested to provide nitrogen needs in this nutrient-lacking bog habitat. There’s also a pond on the property that has lots of GREEN FROG [Grenouille verte] inhabitants, but there are also LEOPARD FROGS [Grenouille léopard] in the area. The CHAIN-DOTTED GEOMETER MOTH [Arpenteuse caténaire] is a common moth, with the adult flying in the fall. Louise got a photo of the colourful caterpillar of that moth on Friday.

**A majority of nesting birds will feed protein to their nestlings to provide the necessary protein for that extremely rapid spurt of growth that occurs after hatching. Some species, like the RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD [Colibri à gorge rubis] that we are only used to seeing nectaring at feeders or flowers, are fly-catchers as well, especially to feed young. Roger LeBlanc watched some female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds from his Notre-Dame home flying into SPRUCE [Épinette] trees, and they very much appeared to be fly-catching, assumedly taking the booty to waiting nestlings. Roger comments he has never seen this in his many years of birding, but he suspects that like many things in nature, it’s just a matter of close observation of activity.

**The SERVICEBERRIES [Amélanchier] are becoming ripe, sweet, and juicy at the moment. Aldo Dorio got a photo of a tree laden with the sweet edible fruit with an almond flavour. It surely is the onset of berry time. Aldo also shows a CHOKE CHERRY [Cerisier à grappes] tree laden with fruit. Some BONAPARTE'S GULLS [Mouette de Bonaparte], still in breeding plumage, have arrived around Hay Island. Also included is a photo of what appears to be a SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER [Bécassin roux] from a rear view, to give a sharp view of the marked tail.

**Dale Gaskin mentioned a few weeks ago he was seeing an IRONWOOD [Bois de fer] tree in flower at his Dawson Settlement home. We have several Ironwood trees near our Little Southwest Miramichi camp. The female flowers have now gone to seed pods, as the attached photo shows.

I also suspect all naturalists are curious as to how NIGHT CRAWLERS [Ver de terre] exchange their genetic material! A photo is attached to satisfy that curiosity.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton