Nature Moncton Nature
News
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Proofreading courtesy of
Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**This
week’s Nature Moncton Wednesday evening walk on August 12 will take place at
the Tucker Street Ducks Unlimited impoundment with all details below:
AUGUST
12 WEDNESDAY EVENING WALK
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 6:30 PM
Location:
Tucker Street Lagoons, Upper Coverdale
Leaders: Judy Cairns and Dale Pugh
Meeting
place: Tucker Street is located at
approximately 1569 Coverdale Road - Route 112. Go to the very end of Tucker
Street where there is ample parking space.
Join us for
a view of the Tucker Street Lagoons in Upper Coverdale. This walk begins with
the descent of a long and steep hill that is the access road, but the trails
around the compounds are flat and easy. Over 1.6 KM, we can expect to see some
returning shorebirds and a variety of ducks.
Bug spray
and protective clothing are recommended. Don’t forget to wear your name tag
too! All are welcome,
Nature Moncton members or not.
**Louise
Nichols visited Johnson's Mills Monday morning just before and during high
tide. The count for the morning was 80,000 + birds with two big
groups -- one at the far end of the beach and one close to the Interpretive
Centre. The group on the far end of the beach was very content to
rest. They stirred only a couple of times while Louise was there, once
when a small plane flew overhead. Shortly after Louise moved to the
Interpretive Centre, a peregrine falcon did a flyover, sending the sandpiper
group in the air, but the falcon did not succeed in a catch.
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS AND PEREGRINE FALCON. AUG. 10, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS. AUG. 10, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS. AUG. 10, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS
SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. AUG. 10, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS
**Don
McAuley keeps seeing a group of ducks drop into Rabbit Brook off Kendra Street
and Blue Heron Lane in Moncton, and he sends a video with the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3h1hf7z1ei8mauizz5udk/DUCKS.-AUG.-10-2026.-DON-MACAULAY.mov?rlkey=4tzd8uemappj3ouej6v1jyd0a&st=y1x9f5sm&dl=0
**Brian
Stone and Cathy Simon checked out the Sackville area on Saturday, and Brian
sent a few photos that happened to be taken along the way. At Johnson's Mills,
the large number of migrating sandpipers was a bit far out and a bit
too spread out for great photos, but some were taken anyway. When Brian
turned around to check behind him, he saw an immature peregrine falcon perched
in the top of a stubby evergreen tree that was checking the menu spread out
before it.
PEREGRINE FALCON (IMMATURE). AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
SANDPIPERS. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
SANDPIPERS. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
At the
Sackville Waterfowl Park, they saw several newly fledged northern yellow
warblers not looking quite put together yet, and cedar waxwings
posing on nest boxes the same way as the belted kingfishers and even a
female American wigeon were doing. Further along at the Walker Rd trails,
a lot of different types of fungus were noted, and on the edge of the
reservoir, a 'fleet" of water strider nymphs were walking on
the surface of the water just as well as their parents. Broad-leaved
helleborine orchids were in flower, and many trilliums were present
alongside the trail.
HELLEBORINE ORCHID. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
CEDAR WAXWINGS. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
BELTED KINGFISHER. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
AMERICAN WIGEON (FEMALE). AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
WATER STRIDER NYMPHS. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
PAINTED TRILLIUM. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
NORTHERN YELLOW WARBLER (FLEDGLING). AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
The next day
at Wilson Marsh, Brian re-photographed some of the interesting dragonflies,
including a male widow skimmer dragonfly, a male Halloween pennant dragonfly,
and a band-winged meadowhawk dragonfly. Other new dragonfly species seen
(very briefly) were one male blue dasher dragonfly and a couple of male eastern
pondhawk dragonflies that were too active to be caught by the camera. An eastern
kingbird was eating berries, and a ruby-throated hummingbird was
draining the nectar from a patch of jewelweed. Another pink pond lily flower
was also in bloom.
EASTERN KINGBIRD. AUG. 07, 2026. BRIAN STONE
BAND-WINGED MEADOWHAWK DRAGONFLY. AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
WIDOW SKIMMER DRAGONFLY (MALE). AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
TWELVE-SPOTTED SKIMMER DRAGONFLY (MALE). AUG. 08, 2026. BRIAN STONE
PINK POND LILY (NON NATIVE). AUG. 09, 2026. BRIAN STONE
Brian
includes a photo from the week before of the nestling cedar waxwings
seeming to be ready to fledge at any moment, and of course they did a few days
later.
CEDAR WAXWING NESTLINGS. AUG. 01, 2026. BRIAN STONE
**Nelson
Poirier joined the New Brunswick Botany Club on Saturday on the field trip to
St. Leonard, New Brunswick, to see lots of rare botanical species.
A wingless,
brightly coloured grasshopper caught their interest on one of the rare willows;
it is commonly known as the wingless mountain grasshopper or northern wingless
grasshopper (Booneacris glacialis), a species of spur-throated
grasshopper that completely lacks wings as both a nymph and an adult. It is
found in northeastern North America, including parts of Canada and the
northeastern United States.
The complete lack of wings on the adults sets them apart from most other grasshopper species.
NORTHERN WINGLESS GRASSHOPPER (BOONEACRIS GRACIALIA). AUG 8, 2026. NELSON POIRIER
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Nature Moncton
