NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
June 9, 2025
Nature Moncton members, as
well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond, are invited to share
their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh
(almost) daily edition of Nature News
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respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line
editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .
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To
view the live feed of the Peregrine Falcon nest cam on the summit of Assumption
Place in Moncton, go to:
**The annual Festival of Nature weekend wound
up Sunday afternoon, and what a fabulous weekend it was for the 100+ New
Brunswick naturalists and friends that gathered in Miramichi under perfect
weather conditions (during the day).
One can only imagine the myriad of
observations, photographs, and experiences that happened with 100+ naturalists’
eyes watching, listening, and sharing everything they saw.
There will be only a few shared moments this
morning as everyone is recuperating and processing a total immersion in nature nonstop from Friday night to Sunday afternoon.
A tremendous kudo of appreciation to the
incredible staff of Nature NB for the organization of this event and assigning
appropriate people to act as leaders for the many field trips.
We are fortunate to live in such a wonderful
part of the world and to absorb and share it in comradeship at its best.
**The Canadian tiger swallowtail butterfly
has been enjoying the warm days for the past week, but surprisingly the first
photo just arrived on Sunday when Lance Harris photographed one checking out
what appears to be chokecherry blossoms.
**Bernice Johnstone shares some photos of jack-in-the-pulpit
and foamflower in blazing bloom.
Bernice played a very helpful role in
locating a special site for botanical interests on one of the outings during
the Festival of Nature.
**Georges Brun photographed a surprisingly
large flock of male common eider doing a fly-past at the juncture of
Hall’s Creek in Moncton.
The flock appears to be all mature male birds as the females will now be doing their maternal duties by themselves. The males
will soon lose their vibrant plumage and go into eclipse, with some becoming nearly
flightless.
**Cedar waxwings are very much enjoying
foraging on the petals, especially of apple tree blooms.
Norbert Dupuis captured a colourful photo of
a cedar waxwing enjoying the blossoms of his flowering crab apple tree.
**Pat Gibbs sends a photo of a plant that recently
popped up in her garden. It appears to be yellow hawkweed that will
burst into brilliant yellow blooms, considered a weed by gardeners, but
pollinators don’t see it that way.
**Aldo Dorio photographed one of the few willets
at Hay Island this season, showing one of the fluorescent white bands on
the wing that blazes like a flag when the bird is in flight.
**On May 28, Brian Stone photographed a
female black swallowtail butterfly ovipositing, so we can soon expect to see
their colourful caterpillars enjoying foliage in the celery/carrot family, both
domesticated and wild.
Just in the dying moments of the Festival of Nature
weekend, Brian’s last photograph was of a cooperative Swainson’s thrush
waving a wing goodbye from Miramichi.
Brian also photographed a beautiful, freshly
minted luna moth that had dropped by the moth light at Nelson Poirier’s
Miramichi camp.
A hobomok skipper, one of our earliest
skippers to be out, also caught the eye of his camera.
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
