NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 16,
2023
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Edited by
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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Wednesday has arrived all too quickly, and the Nature Moncton Wednesday evening walk is on for 6:30 PM this evening with details below:
Nature Moncton Wednesday Walk, Wednesday, August 16, 2023. Starts at 6:30 PM
Wednesday’s walk will be from the Point Park area of Riverview, following the
marsh trail towards the Petitcodiac River. The walk will be about 3 km in
distance (total return) on level groomed trails, easy walking. An interesting walk with lots of marsh plants,
butterflies, and birds. Gordon Rattray will lead the walk. Everyone welcome.
Directions: On route 114 (Hillsborough Rd.) just
before the Petro-Canada station, turn down Point Park Drive, go to the end, then turn
left on Avondale St. At the end of Avondale St., go right along Hawthorne
Drive to Hawthorne Park where there is parking.
** Louise Nichols visited Petit-Cap
beach on Monday afternoon with mostly sunny skies and a fresh onshore
breeze. The shorebirds were not great in number, but she saw 10 species
altogether, including the three species of sandpiper, Greater and Lesser
Yellowlegs, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstone,
Willet, and one Whimbrel. The Whimbrel was far out, so
Louise was able to get only a documentary shot. She also photographed two
plant species along the dune Scotch Lovage and Cocklebur.
It was a
perfect afternoon for a walk among the shorebirds.
** The Common Nighthawk is an early migrator, and that time is right now and a wonderful time to observe them. Earlier in the season, they fly at dusk and can be hard to observe, but that is not the case at the moment. They are in migration during the day and actively hawking insects to fuel that journey.
Ron and Linda Steeves had an interesting observation on Tuesday with the migration of Common Nighthawks going west up the Petitcodiac River Valley. They see them migrating most years at this time, around the middle of August. It was difficult to get an exact number with all the zigzagging that went on, but Linda and Ron estimated 60 to 70 birds over about 45 minutes, with the most in view at one time being 21.
Fall is coming for sure as the blackbird activity around the wetlands in the evenings is picking up. Those that walk the trail often mention how loud the vocalization of these birds gets as they gather in large numbers preparing for migration. There will be early evenings with literally thousand of blackbirds migrating east in strings of birds continuous for long periods of time. Linda and Ron find it to be a real challenge to estimate the numbers at times, like trying to win the lotto so that they can afford to continue to feed the birds!
They still have at least 4 Baltimore Orioles coming to enjoy jelly, along with a load of hornets competing.
**John Inman was
crossing the Harvey Dam on Tuesday and had to stop for a minute and watch 4 Peregrine
Falcons chasing shorebirds and pigeons and no camera. However, he suspects there were 2
adults helping young ones hone their hunting skills.
**The tumultuous weather this summer seems
to have butterflies taking advantage of every bit of sudden sunshine to fuel
up.
After a severe electrical storm on
Sunday night, the sun made an appearance on Monday and gave the butterflies and
bees a chance to nectar in Verica LeBlanc’s Miramichi garden and they went right for
that perennial favourite at this time of year, Coneflower.
Two
Red Admirals made an appearance in her flowerbed, along with a bumblebee
that got photographed.
**Lisa
Morris heard ‘noises’ from an abandoned/non-powered utility box and could see
through a crack in the door a nest of sorts. She waited a few weeks to fully open
both doors suspecting it to be a Red
Squirrel nest as a lot of Red Squirrels suddenly appeared at the bird
feeder, but all seemed to be the same size vs ‘baby sized’.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
