August 9, 2022
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Details and directions of the Nature
Moncton Wednesday evening walk are repeated at the end of this edition and
upfront tomorrow. Weather forecast suggesting tomorrow afternoon and eve to be clear.
** Jane LeBlanc
in St. Martins found an empty Monarch butterfly chrysalis which had a
hole in the side where it appeared something had eaten through it. A spider was
spotted on the empty chrysalis, but she is unsure if that was what preyed on it
or not. Jane has many caterpillars of all sizes, and one other (healthy)
chrysalis she found. There are probably more, but the jungle of the yard makes
it hard to find them.
**Jamie Burris
announces the emergence of a pair of twin boys (Monarch butterflies) on
Monday morning at 8am. With the temperatures so low, one departed 4 hours
later and the other 6 hours later. That's 5 gone and 3 to go!
**Anna Tucker walked
down Church St. in Moncton at 10 am Monday morning, to note many House Sparrows
picking away in the grasses and on the sidewalks as well. There is a blend of
genders and young-of-the-year.
The population of House Sparrows has
decreased very notably over the past years with residual flocks in several
sites especially in urban areas. The decrease in population of this invasive
species has been welcome news to Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows as the
House Sparrow was an aggressive competitor for cavity nest boxes.
**Bob and Sharon Blake’s Red Fox
continues to enjoy the amenities of their yard, especially enjoying the fruit of
Bob’s blueberry patch.
**Lisa Morris photographed a duo of bumblebees
enjoying the squash blooms in Lisa’s garden. They are coated with pollen to supply
their needs as well is making sure Lisa will have plump squash for her larder.
Lisa also photographed a female meadowhawk
dragonfly helping to keep bugs at bay on the blueberry patch. Gilles
Belliveau suspects it to be a Cherry-faced or White-faced Meadowhawk but these
species are hard to distinguish from photos.
**Aldo Dorio captured a photo of a
young-of-the-year Great Blue Heron at Hay Island suspecting it is
wondering whether it is really alone or not!
**Nelson Poirier has only a few
feeders up for summer use and noted an influx of patrons fueling up before the
onset of the delicious heavy rain (wishing the rain could be shared with Newfoundland
and western North America). A few photos are shared of a group of Chipping
Sparrows vying for space on the white millet feeder and House Finch and
American Goldfinch sharing sunflower chips.
A young-of-the-year American Robin
was very closely following its mother who appeared to be very attentive to it.
** Nature Moncton Walk for Wednesday evening, August 10th, 2022
Tankville School, Malcolm’s Way & Vince’s Walk
This week’s Nature Walk is meeting at the Tankville School, 1665 Elmwood
Drive, at 6:30 p.m. The Tankville School
is 3 km north of Costco on Elmwood Drive, and 2 km north of the main entrance
to the Irishtown Nature Park.
We are beginning the evening with a tour and short talk inside the
Tankville School museum (the upper floor). This one-room schoolhouse was used
from 1868 to 1967 and is a designated historic site rarely open to the public.
Afterwards we will enjoy a 3 km walk, beginning through the woods along
Vince’s Walk to the old artesian well. After that we will start and continue
along the Malcolm’s Way board walk. This board walk is over mixed brush and
wetlands until it reaches the forest at the north end of the board walk. Here
we will see the ‘cathedral’ of red pines planted by Boy Scouts in the 1940s.
These pines are now 80 feet tall.
Nelson Poirier
Nature
Moncton