NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
July 5,
2023
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Edited by
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Susan Richards will lead the Wednesday evening,
July 5th Nature Moncton walk tonight starting at 7 p.m. All details are below
It
will be to Beaumont, PAST St. Anne's Chapel. Park in the parking lot up to the
left, at the 'Road closed' sign. The walk is on a gravel roadway through
Acadian coastal forest. The first stop will be at the Beaumont Quarry where, in the late 1800s, the quarry produced grindstones and pulp stones and
more, which were taken by water to Dorchester, down the Petitcodiac River, and
into the United States. We will continue to Fort Folly Point, which is
the mouth of the Petitcodiac and Memramcook Rivers. Down along the shore
near the point are ice caves. The distance is 1.6 K from the parking lot
to the point. The birds they heard while scouting were Swainson's Thrush,
Northern Parula warbler, American Redstart, and a loud Crow and an equally loud
Raven. The flora observed were ferns, Twinflower (Linnaea borealis),
and Bunchberry, to name just a few.
The road to the walk has a few potholes, but it is backroads New
Brunswick.
The map is at the head of the photo lineup.
**Louise Nichols was sitting on their front porch in
Aulac watching the Tree Swallows flying overhead when she noticed a couple
going down into a tree at the side of their driveway. She went over to
see what the attraction was and saw a fluffy Tree Swallow fledgling
sitting on the tree branch. It was high up, so it obviously had some
flying ability. Louise observed one of the parents fly over to it with
some food. Not all the swallows have fledged yet from the 5 boxes on
their property -- when Louise approaches one of the boxes, she can hear the
twittering of the nestlings still inside. According to her records, the
swallows are fledging later this year than last year.
**John Massey was at the corner of Champlain and
Dieppe Blvd. at 7 pm Tuesday evening when a male Common Eider duck
landed in the middle of the intersection, obviously exhausted. It caused
a bit of commotion, but traffic avoided it. You can see by the photo of it in John’s
hand that the bird is just tired out. When released on nearby water, it seemed to get a
second wind and, took a bath and a long drink of water.
(Editor’s
note: it is that time of year when the male Common Eider will molt wing
feathers to the point flight can become challenging and they may end up on land where they are not able to take flight. Assistance onto the water is often lifesaving.)
**Lots of
colourful moths continue their nocturnal emissions.
Maureen
Girvan photographed the colourful medium-sized Crocus Geometer waiting for the camera.
.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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