Nature Moncton Nature News: May 25 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, May 25, 2020 (Monday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to

http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca

To respond by e-mail, address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Please advise the editor if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling. Note that corrections, deletions, or delayed additions may not always appear on the Info Line and email transcript but will always appear on the BlogSpot. For this reason, it is recommended that those wishing to look at historical records use the BlogSpot rather than the email transcript. The BlogSpot can always be accessed from the website.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com

Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com

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

** St. Martins is hosting some great birds. Jane LeBlanc got some excellent photos of an EASTERN TOWHEE [Tohi à flancs roux] on Main Street, St. Martins, on Sunday.

** Bob Blake reports that they had a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER [Pic maculé] come to raw suet on Sunday. This does not happen very often. I’ve had them come to jam and to peanut butter, but never suet or its blends.

** Brian Stone got a nice photo of a moth, BLUISH SPRING MOTH [Arpenteuse du cérisier], which sure is one to watch for when identifying butterflies, as it is very easily mistaken for the NORTHERN AZURE BUTTERFLY. It may be quite common but I have only seen it once before and have never seen it come to my moth light. It is a day-flier and it is seen at this time of year only.

Brian also got some nice photos of a cooperative singing CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT WARBLER,YELL)W WARBLER, and a SAVANNAH SPARROW. A NORTHERN GREEN-STRIPED GRASSHOPPER also posed nicely.

Brian also noted EASTERN TENT CATERPILLARS at the tent nests.

**Dave Christie sends photos of the female summer Tanager that first appeared in his Mary’s Point feeder yard on Monday, May 18. He didn’t see it again until the following Wednesday evening when it visited several times. He did not see it on Thursday or Friday morning but it stopped briefly on late Friday, however on Saturday May 23^rd he was able to see it several times and also back again Sunday morning.

** Jill Greening sends a photo of a BALTIMORE ORIOLE [Oriole de Baltimore] enjoying an orange half in her yard, in Edam Saskatchewan. Jill would not be far from where a Bullock’s Oriole [Oriole de Bullock] could wander in, but the solid black head with narrow white wing-bar says adult male Baltimore Oriole.

** In follow up to yesterday’s fern photos by Gordon Rattray, and a few I noted on Sunday, one photo shows the OSTRICH FERN [Ptérétide noduleuse] just emerging. This is the wild spring delicacy that we call Fiddleheads. However, all ferns do form fiddlehead structures as they emerge, and many are not edible. Also included is the sporophyte stage of the Ostrich Fern that has overwintered that does resemble an ostrich feather with a bit of imagination. It is important to be very respectful of this sporophyte stalk, as folklore says witches use to cast evil spells on folks you don’t care for!

Also included is a bad photo of an emerging SENSITIVE FERN [Onoclée délicate] getting its name because it is very sensitive to frost, so this plant is possibly pushing its luck.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton