NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 4, 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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**Jane LeBlanc found a suspected
laurel sphinx moth early in the morning on her lily plant. She also notes
she now has six monarch butterfly chrysalids, one caterpillar big enough to go
any day, and the two-week mark is coming up on the earliest chrysalis. She will
be watching closely for the first hatchling.
**Barbara Smith and her husband went
for an early evening walk in Riverview, where they spotted a paper wasp appearing
to try to sting or maybe lay eggs on or around ugly nest caterpillars
through their tent.
They wondered whether the wasp was
trying to parasitize the caterpillars.
(Editor’s note: The Smiths may be
quite correct, as some wasp species are indeed parasitic on the larvae of other
insects. Other wasp species are carnivorous, so the real motivation may be
known only to the wasp, but it makes for a nice photo to think upon.)
** Matt Nguyen paid a visit to Wilson
Marsh on Saturday to photograph an adult bald eagle surveying its
surroundings, hedge bindweed in prime bloom, and several mallard
ducks in female plumage.
(Editor’s note: the photograph of the mallards may indeed be of adults, but at this time of year, the young-of-the-year could have molted their natal plumage to appear like adult females.)
Nelson Poirier.
Nature Moncton
