Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 15 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, October 15, 2019 (Tuesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** A reminder of tonight’s Tuesday evening Nature Moncton meeting with guest presenter Carl Duivenvoorden that has already been advised in the last few editions. All details are available at www.naturemoncton.com under “Upcoming Events”.

** A friend borrowed my trail camera to have a BLACK BEAR [Ours noir] check it out very, very closely. It was so close to the lens that all that got photographed was one ear and one eye. I have heard from others that bears will sometimes demolish trail cameras and bear protective boxes are available. This bear did not harm the camera on this perusal. The camera is back home tonight and is aimed at the bird pie to try and solve the mystery of its disappearance at night, yet the culprit seeming to not bother the bird feeders.

I always enjoy seeing a HERMIT CRAB [bernard l'ermite]. They are very common in New Brunswick but often we see them only when coastal pools get very shallow at low tide. One caught my attention on Monday that was up on a beach waiting for the tide to come in. The hermit crab has a soft body, not a shell like other crabs. It crawls into an abandoned shell of a snail and catches food with its claws and pincers protruding. The one encountered Monday was detained for a photo to reach out with its claws assumedly to defend itself, but was soon back into water with a human helping hand. As they grow they will come out to find a bigger, empty snail shell to move into.

I am frequently challenged identifying some of the large orb-weaver spiders we see this time of year. The attached photos are a Barn Orb-weaver spider (Araneus cavaticus), one of several that enjoy building their large webs especially under the eaves of infrequently used buildings near our Miramichi camp. Spider person Bob Baigi confirms the greyish colour and pattern looks good for this species, with the club -shaped markings on the underside and banded legs of the Northeastern Barn Orb- weaver. He also pointed out it is a female due to the small palps (arrow in photo). In the male, the palps are larger looking like boxing gloves and the male spider overall is much smaller. Getting a split-second underside photo of a spider takes planning!!

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton