Nature Moncton Nature
News
Clicking
on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.
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.
If you would like to share
observations/photos with Nature News, contact the editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Please advise the editor
at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com, as well as proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca, if any errors are noted in wording or photo
labelling.
Proofreading courtesy of
Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
The camera on the peregrine
falcon nest box on the summit of Assumption Place is now live. When
checking the link to watch the activity, scroll down to the first large image,
which shows what is happening in real time.
The huddle of peregrine falcon nestlings is getting bigger every day!
https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
**Louise and Glen Nichols spent the weekend in Kentville, NS, and they hiked several trails in the area. Many birds were active, but lots were elusive, although Louise could hear Baltimore orioles, northern cardinals, gray catbirds, rose-breasted grosbeak, and many warbler species wherever they went. She was also keeping an eye out for butterflies and dragonflies, and she found several that she had not seen before or had not seen often. On the trail going through the bird sanctuary in Kentville, Louise found and photographed an eastern pine elfin butterfly. In the Miner's Marsh (near Wolfville), she came across several juvenal's duskywings, a butterfly that is more common in Nova Scotia than in New Brunswick.
(Editor's note: juvenal's duskywing is a very rare butterfly in New Brunswick, yet much more common in Nova Scotia. Take close note of Louise's photos to be ready to record some New Brunswick observations.)
On Sunday, she and Glen visited
the New Ross farm museum, south of Kentville. While walking a trail there,
Louise spotted a dragonfly that turned out to be an Uhler's sundragon dragonfly (thanks to Gilles Belliveau for identification help on this one). Gilles
pointed out that it is similar to, but different from, baskettail dragonflies
because of the combination of black and orange at the base of the wings -- and
that the colours are present on all four wings (not just the hind wings).
(Editor's note: the Uhler's sundragon dragonfly is not commonly found. A second photograph to pay close attention to, as well as Gille's comments, to be ready for that observation.)
At home on Monday morning,
Louise was surprised by a northern parula warbler doing something on
their front porch. It turned out to be gathering nesting material which was stuck on the porch railing. Louise took a photo before it flew
off with its treasure into the large horse chestnut tree in their yard.
**Brian Coyle saw some unusual behaviour from a beaver on one of his videos years ago. The video below is his second time seeing this. You have to wait for it. The first beaver is swimming along away from the lodge with a large stick for the dam, with a second beaver right behind. It stops, stands up, and "wobbles" (for lack of a better term) its upper body. Take a look at Brian's video below:
**On Sunday, Brian Stone
joined Cathy Simon and young enthusiasts Isabelle and Felicity on a walk around
the lagoons at Tucker St. in Upper Coverdale. The lagoons were not quite as
populated as they will eventually be, but they did manage to see a good number
of species, and Brian got a few photos.
There were three families of Canada geese
and their goslings, seemingly at different ages, as some goslings were much
smaller than others. Only a small number of tree swallows were present,
and four or five spotted sandpipers were spotted, and, umm, they were
seen too. A pair of eastern kingbirds kept to the outer edges of the
lagoons as the crew walked around and northern yellow warblers were plentiful.
Some insect life noted was
a female dusky clubtail dragonfly, an eastern forktail damselfly,
a first-of-season silvery blue butterfly, a metallic wood boring
beetle, a tiny metallic green sweat bee, a russet alder leaf
beetle, and a poorly photographed shield bug.
Brian also sends another photo of one of his resident gray catbirds and a video of one singing
musically perched on his never-used nest box (extra volume suggested).
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
