NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 17, 2025
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**The
Nature Moncton visit to the Joggins Fossil Cliffs happened on schedule on
Saturday under beautiful, clear skies.
The visit
was made very special as it was led and interpreted by Dana Brown who had
grown up in the Joggins area and knew the history of the area; he was able share that history and
the items encountered as the group walked along the cliffs. Dana’s knowledge
gave the participants an insight into the area that would never have happened on
a casual visit there.
It was
truly an amazing experience to make the group realize why it has been given
such top recognition as a UNESCO heritage site, a realization that would not have been
possible without an experienced guide.
Thank you
to Jessica Boulanger-Mainville, Maureen Girvan, Louise Nichols, and Fred
Richards for contributing some of their photos of the day to share the flavour of
what went on.
Also, a special thank you to Fred Richards for arranging this unique experience.
**Further
to the mud dauber nest photo submitted earlier this week, David Cannon noted a black-and-yellow
mud dauber was busy again Sunday, adding what appears to be chamber #9 to
its nest. The wasp itself is 2 cm long.
David
doesn't know why eastern redback salamanders respond to rain by jumping
into their swimming pool, but just the few drops that fell on Friday caused 12
of them to scurry into the pool! David photographed three of the rescued dozen.
**Wendy Rogers
reports that they had a snowshoe hare in their back yard Saturday night —
the first one they have seen in a long time. It was enjoying the clover and
grass near the bird feeders in one of the few green patches they have left.
They used to get a group of four of them in the back yard every morning in late winter
and early spring, but that was 10 years ago. They are not sure what has made the
population decline so much. In winter, they don’t often see their tracks
anymore either.
(Editor’s
note: I don’t tend to see the number I used to either. It is normal to expect
the snowshoe hare population to be cyclical, but it does seem like a long time
since they have been abundant. Have others experienced this scenario?)
**While
Brian Stone was out sitting on his back deck on Saturday, in the early evening,
he was surprised to see a group of at least eight nighthawks fly overhead traveling
in an easterly direction. Of course, being such a constant and
consummate photographer, he left his camera in the house on the kitchen table!
Naturally, in the rare instances that he is without a camera, something great
always shows up to torment him and taunt him. Oh well. For a consolation photo,
he used his cell phone to photograph a leafcutter bee collecting pollen
from his swamp milkweed plants.
(Editor’s
note: common nighthawks migrate early and we can expect to see flocks of them
in migration during the day, even though their population has declined.)
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
