Nature Moncton Nature News: June 21 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, June 21, 2020 (Sunday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com

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

** The Nature Moncton field trip to White Rock Recreation Area near Hillsborough was quite an eye-opener on Saturday. We’ve rarely had reports from the area, quite possibly due to naturalists not being aware of this huge system of trails and special areas, until Gordon Rattray’s photos of the past week, as he sleuthed out the area in preparation for Saturday’s field trip. There is an app available that describes the trail system and its use. Directions to obtain this app will be provided in an upcoming edition

Saturday turned out to be a day of pleasant temperature, but some cloud made photography more challenging where the tree canopy was heavy. Over the next couple of days, I’ll let photos do the talking.

Birds were more quiet than they were a week ago, possibly due to nesting. A lot of birding by ear was done with guidance from co-leader, Roger LeBlanc.

Blooming plants were too abundant to list, but made some very special moments.

A pair of BIG POPLAR SPHINX [Sphinx du peuplier], also known as Modest Sphinx, were encountered mating, pointing out that the nomenclature “modest” was only in name.

With many eyes on the look-out, little got missed, from ferns to a toad, salamanders, dragonflies, and butterflies. A real surprise was the abundance of WESTERN TAILED-bLUE [Bleu porte-queue de l’Ouest] and NORTHERN CLOUDY WING [Hespérie givrée] butterflies in an area beside an open pit mine site, to make it obvious that this is a newly found breeding site for these two species, which could mean a very significant range expansion (especially for the Western Tailed-blue), which could be very appropriate timing with the Maritimes Butterfly Atlas being polished off at the moment.

Am attaching several photos of the Western Tailed-blue Butterfly to point out features of one large orange eyespot and spots on underside indistinct whereas the also uncommon Eastern Tailed-blue Butterfly would have two distinct eyespots and more distinct spots on the underwing. All the common Blue species of butterfly we see deserve closer look for these features. The Northern Cloudywing has white spots visible on underside and upperside of forewing to readily distinguish it from the much more common Dreamy Duskywing Skipper.

The young American Toad photo does not show the paratoid gland well developed yet and lacks some of the features we would associate with an adult which may lead to identity challenges.

The history of how this trail system came to be was interesting. Hillsborough was a boom-site for plaster and sheet-rock manufacturing for many years, mining the huge calcium sulphate (gypsum) deposits, until Canada Gypsum suddenly announced that they were ceasing operation, leaving a huge area deserted.

The Village of Hillsborough took over the property to create what is today the White Rock Recreational Area. We surely had the inside story on that, as co-leader of the trip and Nature Moncton President, Gordon Rattray was mayor of Hillsborough at the time. It is also the site where the MASTODON was discovered in 1936 and is presently on display at the New Brunswick Museum.

It was a great day in the field and I’m sure will be re-visited by many naturalists after this exposure. It was pleasant to have the sharp eyes of two older children in the group and to see their amazement at what they saw with their lively activity.

Suspect more photos to follow over the next days.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton