Nature Moncton Nature News

Thursday, 3 July 2025

July 3 2025

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

July 3, 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

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com

Proofreading courtesy of Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**After seeing Brian Stone’s post on the brown bullhead at Highland Park, Yvette Richard gave it a check on Wednesday. She was lucky enough to get some action right at her feet on the boardwalk.

The water was quite brackish and had numerous small pieces of flotsam, but Yvette managed to capture some great photos.

It was interesting to watch the parent (s) corral the little ones. There were hundreds of fingerlings for sure. Yvette commented that it was an unusual occurrence, and she was glad she saw it.

The baby eastern kingbirds were lively, even in the extreme heat in Salisbury on Wednesday.

**Louise Nichols was walking a trail Wednesday morning in the Walker Rd area of Sackville, listening to a hermit thrush on one side of the trail and a Swainson's thrush on the other. She suddenly heard a commotion and saw a couple of Canada jays fly in, which were being chased by an upset blue-headed vireo. The jays turned out to be juvenile birds, and one posed for a couple of photos.

(Editor’s note: We surely don’t get many photos of juvenile Canada jays. The juveniles retain the dark smoky plumage, taking on the adult plumage in July-August.)

**Deanna Fenwick paid her first visit to Highland Park on Wednesday and found it was a great place to bird. Deanna was pleased to see a male ruddy duck and a female wood duck with her family on a nest. The male wood duck was in eclipse plumage in the area.

Deanna’s camera also caught a cedar waxwing, a warbling vireo, an eastern kingbird, and a male yellow warbler.

Deanna heard sora but didn't see one.

**Shannon Inman advises that while crossing the Gunningsville bridge on the Moncton side in the marshy area on Wednesday, she noticed a reddish coloured heron or bird, but due to all the traffic, she could not stop for a better look. Birders in the area could keep an eye out.

**Brian Stone sends photos from Nature Moncton's Wednesday Night Walk at Wilson Marsh on the Salisbury Rd. The group's first target was the tree swallow nest, in a real tree! The young chicks were poking out of the nest hole with mouths open in anticipation of food being delivered. While they were observing this wonder of nature, two other swallow nests were observed in other dead tree cavities nearby.

Another target was a group of pied-billed grebe chicks that were found again at the same location where they were noted earlier. Yellow warblers and common yellowthroats were abundant, as were the expected red-winged blackbirds and common grackles. A distant American bittern gave a fly by to the delight of the walkers, and many Canada geese were grouped together along with a few older goslings. A first-quarter (waxing) Moon hovered in the sky above as the group prepared to leave the site.

**The New Brunswick Environmental Network lists events at the beginning of each month that they know are taking place

Click on any event to view its details.

Upcoming Events for the Month of July

Friday, July 4th

Event—Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Field Training Part One—Lakeville

Saturday, July 5th

Event—Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Field Training Part Two—Douglas Harbour

Tuesday, July 8th

Webinar—The Organic Standards Review—Community Conversation—Online

Wednesday, July 9th

Webinar—What Is Climate Change Adaptation and Why It Matters?—Online
Event—Hawk Identification Workshop with Todd Watts—Saint John
Event—Nighthawks and Nightcaps—Fredericton

Sunday, July 13th

Event—Miscou Island Eelgrass Planting with Ghost Gear Disappear Inc.—Shippagan

Thursday, July 17th

Event—2025 Pride Nature Walk (Short Walk)—Fredericton

Saturday, July 19th

Event—2025 Pride Nature Walk at Seymour Woodlands Nature Preserve—Estey's Bridge

Wednesday, July 23rd

Event—Site Visit: Coastal Sand Dune Restoration Initiatives at Aboiteau Beach Park—Cap-Pelé
Webinar—Climate Adaptation & Resilience Training (CART) Information Session—Online
Webinar—Protecting Waterways—Online

Saturday, July 26th

Event—MarshWatch Walk (French Program)—Cocagne

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier.

Nature Moncton

CANADA JAY (JUVENILE). JULY 2, 2025. LOUISE NICHOLS

RUDDY DUCK (MALE). JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

WARBLING VIREO. JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

CEDAR WAXWING. JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

YELLOW WARBLER (MALE). JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

YELLOW WARBLER (FEMALE). JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (FEMALE). JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (FEMALE). JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

TREE SWALLOW NEST. JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

EASTERN KINGBIRD. JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

EASTERN KINGBIRD NESTLINGS. JULY 02, 2025 YVETTE RICHARD

NORTHERN FLICKER. JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

WOOD DUCK (FEMALE AND CHICKS). JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

WOOD DUCK (ECLIPSE MALE). JULY 2, 2025. DEANNA FENWICK

PIED-BILLED GREBE CHICKS. JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

MALLARD DUCK AND DUCKLINGS. JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

BROWN BULLHEAD (FINGERLINGS AND PARENT) CORRAL. JULY 02, 2025. YVETTE RICHARD

BROWN BULLHEAD (FINGERLINGS) CORRAL. JULY 02, 2025. YVETTE RICHARD

CARPET MOTH. JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

WEDNESDAY NIGHT WALK. JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

MOON (FIRST QUARTER WAXING). JULY 02, 2025. BRIAN STONE

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

July 2 2025

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

July 2, 2025

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader Louise Nichols at Nicholsl@eastlink.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com

Proofreading courtesy of Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**A heads up: a special event is taking place this coming Sunday, July 6, featuring an open house to showcase findings from the recent bioblitz of the Black River Protected Natural Area in the village of Kouchiboquac. All details are provided at the end of this edition and will be repeated on Friday morning.

**Veronica Price captured a pleasant photo on Monday at the Valley Trail in Memramcook of a female northern harrier. Veronica comments, "It was a hot day with a nice breeze, and its effortless gliding made Veronica wish for wings of her own."

**John Inman photographed a fledgling red-winged blackbird looking for a handout from its parent, and as soon as he left, a young male came over to impress the fledgling but was quickly turned down.

Also, a tiny zebra jumping spider, which was not very cooperative for a photo, was present.

(Editor’s note: note the huge anterior median eyes on this species of spider that function as a high-resolution telephoto lens for targeting insect prey at a distance.)

**Recently, Deanna and Peter Gadd observed a female hooded merganser with seven young at the Miramichi Marsh. This was after not seeing this species for quite a few weeks at the marsh. They saw them again on Tuesday morning.

**Jane LeBlanc took a bicycle ride on a foggy Canada Day and found a male common yellowthroat warbler, something she hadn't seen for a while. Other warblers did not pause for photos. Later, she saw two bald eagles on the breakwater as the tide was rising, waiting for lunch. She has also had a pileated woodpecker calling all morning near her yard, but it would not show itself.

**Alyre Chiasson is in Oslo, Norway, at the moment and shares a photo of a black-headed gull who was kind enough to pose for him. Alyre points out that this gull species is very common there, and he has never been this close to one before.

(Editor’s note: this species is casual/accidental in New Brunswick, and Alyre’s photo really shows how brown the hood really is, not black as the name suggests.)

**On Tuesday, Canada Day, Brian and Annette Stone visited Highland Park in Salisbury and enjoyed a great variety of wildlife that was active in the warm temperatures.

A large group of mallard ducklings was learning to forage under the watchful eye of an adult female near the path while a pair of pied-billed grebe chicks swam past. A pair of cedar waxwings perched scenically on a branch, and a male blue-winged teal rested in the reeds almost out of sight. Across the river, a vocal bald eagle perched in one of its favourite trees, and a well-camouflaged wood duck swam along the edge of the pond, blending in nicely. The trail was busy with many bluet damselflies, common whitetail dragonflies, several twelve-spotted skimmer dragonflies, lots of least skippers and European skippers, and small mining bees collecting pollen from the wild roses.

The best part of Brian's visit happened on the new bridge connecting the lower trail to the upper trail. A passing trail walker mentioned that a bird's nest was visible from the bridge, and when Brian went to look, it was not hard to find, being in a tree right beside the bridge at eye level. It turned out to be an eastern kingbird nest with at least three newly hatched chicks all begging to be fed. Both parents were actively bringing food to the nestlings, and Brian got the closest photos he has ever had of a kingbird as it perched beside the nest and watched people passing by.

While Brian was on the new bridge, he noticed a warbling vireo flitting amongst the trees on the other side of the bridge across the stream, possibly foraging for its own nestlings. As he followed the vireo with binoculars and camera, some dark movement caught his eye below in the water at the edge of the stream. It turned out to be a large group of tiny brown bullhead fingerlings all swimming together in a way that seemed like one large organism, almost a murmuration of sorts. This is only the second time Brian has seen this, and he was sorry he couldn't get any closer to get better images to share.

(Editor’s note: the scenario Brian saw with brown bullhead is a very interesting one that we don’t often see due to the murky water the species lives in.

On a Nature Moncton field trip visit to Gagetown Island on July 14, 2023, a large group witnessed this spectacle at modestly close range, and yes, it was Brian Stone who photographed it.

The write-up of that incident appeared in the July 15, 2023, issue of Nature News and is repeated below:

“One of the observations that very much caught the attention of participants of the Nature Moncton foray to Gagetown Island was a black mass of fingerling fish moving about in an amoeba-like fashion. None of the participants had witnessed this before.

The roaming mass was hundreds of fingerling brown bullhead fish being protected under the watchful eye of the parent fish, swimming around and under the mass.

Alyre Chiasson points out that it is the males who are the main guardians, not the females. When the fingerlings are fry, they will swim into the mouth of the male for protection, and the male can even move them to a safer place. This activity is under hormonal control, so the appetite of the male is suppressed, and they don’t eat the fry juveniles, as the brown bullhead is known to eat almost anything that fits. The brown bullhead is in the catfish family which does the same thing in rearing their young. It was an amazing activity to watch!

Brian Stone was able to get some still photos and videos of the activity, but the brilliant sheen of the sun on the slightly murky water made photographing difficult.

Check out the action at the video links below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ccsvjwca28sagv11kk7lg/CATFISH-VIDEO-1.-JULY-13-2023.-BRIAN-STONE.mp4?rlkey=yta6z2xthnjmrdqy2fj2rxczn&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9zffb56slxchvjhlm49zp/CATFISH-VIDEO-2.-JULY-13-2023.-BRIAN-STONE.mp4?rlkey=isbf8mep0j1a4c6s74fzui25a&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/o0xphsvclerzzw87yuurv/CATFISH-VIDEO-3.-JULY-13-2023.-BRIAN-STONE.mp4?rlkey=oae5wlla1864u7dviba9oq876&dl=0”

**A reminder that the NB Museum is currently holding its 2025 Biota at Black River PNA in the Kouchibouguac Village area. Open House this Sunday!

Here is a link to their web page: New Brunswick Museum Leads 14th Annual Biota into Black River PNA - NBM-MNB

“A highlight of the project is a public open house on Sunday, July 6, from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., at the Biota Field Lab (Pentecostal Church, 194 Tweedie Brook Road, Kent Rural District). Visitors are invited to meet the scientists, students, and artists behind the project and explore their discoveries firsthand.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier.

Nature Moncton