Nature Moncton Nature News: June 3 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, June 03, 2020 (Wednesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** A second day to share a GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER [Tyran huppé] photo. David Lilly got an excellent photo of a Great Crested Flycatcher in the Jemseg area on Monday which is an expected territory for this species. The vocalization of the Great Crested Flycatcher is unique and is a good one to learn to know when one is in the area as they can be quite vocal.

** Our male waterfowl are beautifully dressed in their breeding plumage but can sure look tattered when they go into eclipse and non-breeding plumage. Barb Jennings was in the right place at the right time at Centennial Park to see a pair of WOOD DUCKS [Canard branchu] in full breeding plumage beside a Wood Duck that had started going into eclipse very early. Guides say it can indeed happen as early as June 01, so this has to be an ‘early bird’. Gilles Belliveau comments that from his observations Wood Ducks can be the first male ducks to go into eclipse and molt.

** John Massey sends a nice photo of an INTERRUPTED FERN showing the fresh, dark interruptions of sporophytes midway on the fertile stalks surrounded by the sterile vegetative stalks.

** Ray Gauvin continues to share his interest in the Moon and its continuous action. His photo shows a waxing gibbous Moon as of June 01. “Waxing” means it is getting larger and “gibbous” refers to the shape which is less than the full circle of the full Moon, but more than half (hump shape).

** Susan Atkinson is another caretaker of a lawn that is letting the Dandelions bloom freely to help the emerging Queen Bees get their important pollen supply to start their nests.

** Sterling Marsh comments that he gets an occasional visit to his feeders from a male RING-NECKED PHEASANT [Faisan de Colchide] plus the occasional female. However on Tuesday morning there was some interesting action that he had never seen before. The BLACKBIRDS were harassing the Pheasants by running up behind the male and tugging on his beautiful tail as seen in Sterling’s photos. He assumed they wanted the spilled seeds for themselves.

** We only have a short time window to take note of our conifer trees as they produce pollen and seed at the moment. Brian Stone got a recent photo of a Pine with a close up of its reproductive activity. Gart Bishop labeled the photo so we can understand what we are seeing and he also gives a great commentary, which I am attaching below, to help us realize what we are really seeing. Thank you Gart.

“I cannot make out a female cone (flower) on this photo, but if it were present it would be at the tip for pine. In Larch, the female cones (looking like pink rose buds, form laterally (on the side) on the twigs. Some info on the flowers. All conifers have separate male and female cones (flowers), usually on the same tree. The flowers do not have normal flower parts such as calyx (sepals) corolla (petals) stamens or pistils. Once the male cones release their pollen, (lots of pollen!) into the wind, the cones shrivel up and fall off. The female cones which are initially small, will, once pollinated, develop into what we recognize as pine cones. Some pine cones stay on the tree for multiple years, others like Balsam Fir, mature and disintegrate in the fall while still on the tree……Gart”

** We haven’t had any photos yet of the beautiful Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly that is so associated with the blooming of Lilacs that they are very attracted to. I am attaching a photo of one nectaring Lilac blooms on Tuesday.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton