Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 5 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, 5 September 2020 (Saturday)

To view the photos mentioned in this edition go to http://nminfoline.blogspot.ca

To respond by email, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

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

Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Catherine Clements

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

**Roger LeBlanc got a loud interruption to sleep on Thursday night. They were sound asleep with windows open as it was a warm night, when two BARRED OWLS [Chouette rayée] got into a very vocal chat just outside their window, for almost half an hour. Roger felt these were probably adult birds in the post-breeding reaffirmation as a pair scenario. It did not sound at all like youngsters demanding food.

**An appropriate day to show two Barred Owl photos! Fred Dube shares two great Barred Owl photos he has taken in the past that will remind us all of this beautiful creature. One was taken in the Pictou area of Nova Scotia, and the other was taken on the Mary’s Point Road in Albert County, New Brunswick.

**A young of the year YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER [Pic maculé] spent most of Friday around some holes it had drilled in a Serviceberry tree [Amélanchier] at a neighbour’s camp yard in Miramichi. The holes exuded sap even though parts of the tree appeared to be dying. It would seem a good year for Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, as several juveniles have been reported this year, which we don’t seem to see that much of. I’m not sure of the literature on it, but the adults seem to be rarely seen in the area at this time of year, but juveniles seem more common. I would wonder if the parents don’t migrate earlier than the young. The young have very little resemblance to the parents. This specimen seems to still have some white natal down feathers in its plumage.

**I spotted my first HORSE MUSHROOM [Agaric des jachères] of the season on Friday, assumedly after a bit of damp weather and cooler nights. The gills are pink underneath when fresh, and will produce a near-black spore print. The top surface often has the raised areas, as the photo shows, and sometimes blushes of yellow spots on the cap, that these did not. The heat of the day on Friday would have had them deteriorate and become infested quickly, had they not been gathered early.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton