NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September18, 2018 (Tuesday)
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For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
** The Nature Moncton monthly meeting
tonight, Tuesday night, at 7:00, at the Moncton Mapleton Park Rotary Lodge,
goes up front today with the write up below. Membership forms will be sent out
again under separate cover for members to have ready, as well as the survey
forms to be completed for the activities committee.
Nature Moncton September
Meeting
How Marshes Became Dykelands
Date: September 18, 2018
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Mapleton Park Rotary Lodge (across from Cabela’s)
Speaker: Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc
As naturalists and bird watchers, we roam over many wild places. And in our quests we often find ourselves in or near the very rich-in-biodiversity salt marshes of the region. But many of the most accessible marshes having now been converted to dykelands, have you ever asked yourself why and how that happened? The presentation offered at Nature Moncton’s September meeting will focus on this subject. The talk given by well- renowned historian Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc, who has had a long and illustrious career with the Université de Moncton and Environment Canada, will help us understand better these very special places. Without people realizing it, much of the Bay of Fundy's polders or dykeland in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia offers some of the best farmland in the world which has been achieved thanks to the « aboiteaux ». This technology, which originated in North America with French settlers nearly four hundred years ago, has evolved very little over the centuries. Considered among the first major civil engineering works on this continent, the aboiteau system allowed the Acadian people to prosper until the middle of the eighteenth century and it is thanks to this technology that the agricultural regions of the Bay of Fundy flourished in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This presentation will address issues such as the origin of the aboiteau system as well as its operation, with illustrations from yesterday and today that will illuminate for us the complexity of a device designed to cope with the most powerful tides in the world. As naturalists, knowledge of nature is always something we strive for and this presentation should help us understand much better an important part of the natural world that surrounds us. Don’t miss it!
How Marshes Became Dykelands
Date: September 18, 2018
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Mapleton Park Rotary Lodge (across from Cabela’s)
Speaker: Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc
As naturalists and bird watchers, we roam over many wild places. And in our quests we often find ourselves in or near the very rich-in-biodiversity salt marshes of the region. But many of the most accessible marshes having now been converted to dykelands, have you ever asked yourself why and how that happened? The presentation offered at Nature Moncton’s September meeting will focus on this subject. The talk given by well- renowned historian Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc, who has had a long and illustrious career with the Université de Moncton and Environment Canada, will help us understand better these very special places. Without people realizing it, much of the Bay of Fundy's polders or dykeland in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia offers some of the best farmland in the world which has been achieved thanks to the « aboiteaux ». This technology, which originated in North America with French settlers nearly four hundred years ago, has evolved very little over the centuries. Considered among the first major civil engineering works on this continent, the aboiteau system allowed the Acadian people to prosper until the middle of the eighteenth century and it is thanks to this technology that the agricultural regions of the Bay of Fundy flourished in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This presentation will address issues such as the origin of the aboiteau system as well as its operation, with illustrations from yesterday and today that will illuminate for us the complexity of a device designed to cope with the most powerful tides in the world. As naturalists, knowledge of nature is always something we strive for and this presentation should help us understand much better an important part of the natural world that surrounds us. Don’t miss it!
** Brian Coyle comments that on a
Sunday morning hike in a wooded area across from his Upper Mountain Rd. home,
he suddenly came across a flurry of migratory activity that included CAPE MAY
WARBLERS [Paruline tigrée] on the tops of spruce trees, BLUE-HEADED VIREO
[Viréo à tête bleue], RED-EYED VIREO
[Viréo aux yeux rouges], COMMON YELLOWTHROAT [Paruline masquée], YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER [Paruline à croupion
jaune] and a few NORTHERN PARULA [Paruline à collier] warblers. All of this
action seemed to be over a span of about twenty feet of bushes. These migratory
pockets can be awesome at this time of year. He was not able to get photos, but
did get a Northern Parula Warbler to settle for a moment. Note the split eye
arcs, yellow colour restricted to the throat and upper chest, wing bars and
slight green color on the head. He also came across a doe and a buck WHITE-TAILED
DEER [Cerf de Virginie] that seemed to be travelling together all summer and
assumed them to be brother and sister from last year. The oncoming deer rut
will probably have them going their separate ways.
** Jack Perry came across a rather
interesting RED SQUIRREL [Ecureuil roux) scenario at the Irving Nature Park in
Saint John. He has walked past a certain post many times over the past years
but it is the first time that he has ever encountered it as a major dining
table of Rose Hips chewed up by squirrels to make for an impressive display.
The rose hips happen to be very abundant this year in that area so it is an
easily gathered food source.
** BONAPARTE'S GULLS [Mouette de
Bonaparte] tend to breed to the west of us, however large numbers tend to
migrate in this direction in the fall. Aldo Dorio is noting a build-up of them
around Neguac wharf. Aldo also photographed a still present LESSER YELLOWLEGS
[Petit Chevalier] on the shore line of Hay Island, as well as an abundant crop
of WINTERBERRY HOLLY.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
LESSER YELLOWLEGS. SEPT 17, 2018. ALDO DORIO
NORTHERN PARULA WARBLER. SEPTEMBER 16, 2018. BRIAN COYLE
RED SQUIRREL DINING POST. SEPT 17, 2018. JACK PERRY
RED SQUIRREL DINING POST. SEPT 17, 2018. JACK PERRY
WINTERBERRY HOLLY. SEPT 17, 2018. ALDO DORIO
