Nature Moncton Nature News

Wednesday, 27 May 2026

May 27 2026

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 peregrine falcon parents are now starting to leave their brood of four alone in the nest for short periods as they head out grocery shopping. A screenshot on Sunday morning found the four hatchlings huddled up in what was probably a chilly morning, 22 floors up.

https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

**A heads up on the field trip coming up this Saturday, May 30, sleuthing out spring ducks. All details at the end of this edition and upfront on Friday.

**John Inman photographed a ruby-throated hummingbird trying to dry off in the rain.

A porcupine checked out the yard. No photo, but the peregrine falcon just left the yard with another blue jay. John wonders if it's opting for jays instead of pigeons, as the jays are a lighter load to take to a nest. The falcon was here the same time last year.

(Editor’s note: the peregrine falcon family on the summit of Assumption Place seems to have a taste for blue jay as well, as indicated by the feather remnants.)

**Nature Moncton Outing—Spring Ducks

Location: Sackville Sewage Lagoon, Retention Ponds, and Waterfowl Park

Date and start time: Saturday, May 30, at 9:30 AM

Hosts: Gwen Clark and Jessica Belanger-Mainville

Spring in New Brunswick is a perfect time to appreciate one of the most striking groups of birds, the ducks, as they return to New Brunswick to breed or pass through on their northward migration. The Sackville Sewage Lagoon, Retention Ponds, and Waterfowl Park offer important breeding and stopover habitat for many species, from the familiar Blue-winged Teal and Ring-necked Duck to less common visitors like Wood Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Hooded Mergansers, and Northern Pintails. If you’re lucky, you may even find a rare vagrant (a species far outside its native range) like the cinnamon-headed Eurasian Wigeon!

We will start at the Sewage Lagoon and proceed to the Retention Ponds, concluding with a short walk along the boardwalk loop in Waterfowl Park.

Bring a snack, water, and sun protection, and don’t forget your name tag. All are welcome, Nature Moncton members and non-members alike.

Sackville meeting location: Sewage Lagoons on Crescent Street. From Moncton, take the Trans-Canada Highway and get off at exit 506 (Cattail Ridge). Continue on Cattail Ridge as it becomes Crescent Street. Where Crescent Street curves west (to the right when coming from Cattail Ridge), turn left onto the gravel road and continue to the sewage lagoons. Park along the side of the road.

Carpooling meet-up location and time: We strongly encourage carpooling from Moncton to Sackville to reduce the environmental footprint of this event. For those wishing to carpool, we will meet at the parking lot of the Sobeys on Elmwood Drive (77 Filles de Jesus Ave, Moncton) at 8:45 a.m.

**Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD IN RAIN. MAY 28, 2026. JOHN INMAN

PORCUPINE. MAY 28, 2026. JOHN INMAN

Tuesday, 26 May 2026

May 26 2026

Nature Moncton Nature News

Clicking on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.

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

PEREGRINE FALCON NESTLINGS. MAY 26, 2026. NELSON POIRIER

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:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xrps6kosn6ig81vgh426v/UNUSUAL-BEAVER-BEHAVIOR.-MAY-25-2026.-BRIAN-COYLE.MP4?rlkey=k937zd9d4f6i0x0t7rfx9uvst&st=8xnsd7km&dl=0

**Brian Coyle also captured an American bittern strolling by one of his trail cameras. See the video link below:

DSCF0010 - Copy (3).MP4

**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).

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/70yxkkfil5vvjfx02nszj/GRAY-CATBIRD-SINGING.-MAY-22-2026.-BRIAN-STONE.mp4?rlkey=sf97dswu969wz8bpt9c3w7uwy&st=1szur27k&dl=0

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

GRAY CATBIRD. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

EASTERN KINGBIRD. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

SPOTTED SANDPIPER. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

NORTHERN PARULA. MAY 25, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS

CANADA GOOSE FAMILIES. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

TREE SWALLOW. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

JUVENAL'S DUSKYWING. MAY 23, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS

EASTERN PINE ELFIN. MAY 23, 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS

SILVERY BLUE BUTTERFLY. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

UHLER'S SUNDRAGON. MAY 24. 2026. LOUISE NICHOLS

EASTERN FORKTAIL DAMSELFLY. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

DUSKY CLUBTAIL DRAGONFLY. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

METALLIC WOOD BORING BEETLE MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

SHEILD BUG (STINK BUG). MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

RUSSET ALDER LEAF BEETLE. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

APPLE BLOSSOM AND GREEN METALLIC SWEAT BEE. MAY 24, 2026. BRIAN STONE

Monday, 25 May 2026

May 25 2026

Nature Moncton Nature News

Clicking on the photos enlarges them for closer observation.

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 fuzzy bundle is sure getting bigger!

https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

**Nature Moncton had a table at the ECOFEST at the Magnetic Hill Zoo on Sunday, May 24th. There were many visitors on the sunny, warm day, and they had interesting conversations.

Thank you to Fred and Susan Richards, Marbeth Wilson, and Cynthia Doucet for spending time to represent NATURE MONCTON.

**John Inman is experiencing large numbers of blue jays at the moment, making it hard on the seed and the wallet. The peregrine falcons are appreciating their presence, taking a few every day, possibly to feed young. John photographed a duo of evening grosbeaks trying to feed, but too many blue jays.

John photographed a recent beautiful morning sunrise out his window.

**A very interesting report from Don Davis with Journey North:

"Krista" reported her sighting of a female monarch laying eggs on common milkweed (in Nova Scotia) to Journey North on May 23, 2026. A photograph accompanied her report. I encourage everyone to report their FIRST sighting of milkweed, adult monarchs, and their life stages to Journey North. There has been a strong recent migration of monarchs into southern Ontario, possibly due to warm temperatures and strong westerly winds blowing monarchs into Ontario from the central Flyway.

See:

https://maps.journeynorth.org/map/?map=monarch-adult-first&year=2026&season=spring

**Gwen Clarke and Jessica Belanger-Mainville spent Saturday in Sackville scouting for their upcoming Nature Moncton outing next weekend (weather permitting!). They saw a Eurasian wigeon that hopefully will stick around! They were excited to spot pied-billed grebes building their nest in the Waterfowl Park. They also saw a few warblers, including a northern yellow warbler that posed for the camera. At the sewage lagoon, there was a song sparrow that wasn’t too pleased by the high winds, and a painted lady butterfly.

As Brian Coyle neared the tree line of a forest on his way out to some of his trail cameras early yesterday morning, he heard several warblers singing their distinctive songs. He was able to photograph several species.

Brian captured a video with the clear vocalization of an alder flycatcher, which is attached below.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0chh1gqo8h4hutu005wr0/ALDER-FLYCATCHER.-MAY-24-2026.-BRIAN-COYLE.MOV?rlkey=irva3pzg48fhvpryuddj2ve2g&st=hq2dlgd9&dl=0

(Editor’s note: It is that magic time of year when songbirds, especially males, are loudly vocalizing to announce their territories and attract females. Getting to know specific vocalizations is much easier with all the apps we have available to us today. The rapidly oncoming foliage can make it harder to see birds, but knowing what’s there and where to look can sure make that easier!

The common Empidonax flycatchers' plumage can be frustratingly similar, but their vocalizations do make them easy to recognize. Brian Coyle’s video/audio of the alder flycatcher is a perfect example!

Those catchy moniker phrases make it easier as well, such as "three beers" for Brian's audio of the alder flycatcher.

Nelson Poirier was able to distinctly hear a Tennessee warbler on Sunday by clearly hearing its three-parted vocalization, but he never did see it.)

**On Saturday, Brian Stone walked behind Crandall University to check on the status of the woodland flowering plants and any other new spring arrivals. He noted newly (or recently) flowering goldthread, painted trilliums, lady's slipper orchids, sarsaparilla, starflower, hobblebush, pin cherry, and clintonia (blue bead lily). Several forest birds dropped by, including blue-headed vireo, ruby-crowned kinglet, a bright magnolia warbler catching a caterpillar for lunch, and a chestnut-sided warbler. Brian also visited the small bog at the north end of the trails and checked on the occupied bald eagle nest on the far side of the bog in a tall pine tree.

Along the trails, Brian came across his first dragonflies of the season including a fresh new beaverpond baskettail dragonfly, a similarly fresh hudsonian whiteface dragonfly, and a couple eastern forktail damselflies, plus a bee fly, a painted lady butterfly, and a twelve-spotted tiger beetle. Back at home, Brian photographed his beautifully vocal resident gray catbirds enjoying oranges in between songs.