Nature Moncton Nature
News
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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.
**Many
will remember the reports on the pair of tufted titmice that Gail Taylor
in Canal (just outside St. George) has hosted all winter at her feeders, and they
are still present, which is very pleasant to hear. Gail works during the week,
so she has to do her real monitoring on weekends, but she is certain the duo is
still present as she did see two come to the feeder on a Sunday recently. This duo has been present for 6 months.
Last week, Gail noted one titmouse keeping
watch on another in the pine trees where the feeder is, and she wondered if it
might be a young one learning skills from an adult.
Gail
has enjoyed watching them so much when she can, which is mostly on the weekend
when she is home. Gail hopes to catch a glimpse of some juveniles in the near
future, which will be a very special event!.
Gail
comments that the photos have to be documentary as they come and go so quickly,
and she is always taking the photos from inside the house.
**The
warm weather and lilac blooms have the hummingbird clearwing moths busy
collecting nectar in the yard of Brian Coyle. These unique day-flying moths are
perfect hummingbird imitators. Their quick movements make them difficult photo
subjects, but Brian was able to capture a photograph and a video that is shared
in the link below:
**Jane
LeBlanc went back to the area where she had seen the fledgling pileated
woodpecker on Tuesday and found the/a youngster looking out of the nest
cavity in a birch tree.
**On
Tuesday afternoon, Louise Nichols was in Moncton, and she took advantage of the
time there to visit the Tankville Trail on Elmwood Drive. In the hot, humid
weather, she was looking for small things more so than birds, and she saw several
hobomok skipper butterflies and Arctic skippers, a gray comma
butterfly, and ebony jewelwing damselflies. She was surprised
by the number of nodding trilliums growing along the side of the main
trail, all in bloom. She also photographed some woolly alder aphids on a
tree branch.
Louise includes a photo of a pink lady’s slipper orchid (white morph) that she found growing in their woods in Aulac, the only white one she has seen there.
**Nature
NB’s Shippagan Festival of Nature that Deana and Peter Gadd took part in was to
Lac Frye and the Miscou Grande Plaine at the northern tip and northwest part of
Miscou Island, respectively. The map is that sketched by W. F. Ganong in
1903!
The
group of approximately 20 naturalists spent perhaps 45 minutes in light rain
enjoying the comments of David Mazerolle of Kouchibouguac National Park and
Laurel Bernard of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Laurel
explained that much of Miscou Island is protected in one way or another, and
the Nature Conservancy is responsible for large sections.
David
led the group at both locations, explaining many of the unique plants that grow
in this unusual habitat, which he said had much in common with
Newfoundland. At Lac Frye, he drew attention to sweet grass and
Canadian burnet. As the season progresses, the threatened and
endemic St. Lawrence aster may also appear, a species that is being encouraged
and directly protected in a number of locations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
area. The weather was not great, so there were not a lot of birds easily seen, but
130 red-breasted mergansers were in the lake, and a peregrine falcon made a flyby.
Just
south of Lac Frye is the unique Miscou Plaine. This area is a very wide swath
of sand dunes. The further inland one goes, the older the dune, which is
perhaps 800m wide at the widest point, and the vegetation changes. There are, of
course, variations in habitat and hence variations in plant life. Highlights
amongst the plants were the rare sage-leaf willow, and the bastard
toadflax (aka common comandra).
(Editor's note: Take note of Peter's photograph of sweetgrass in bloom. I suspect many of us are familiar with this plant due to its significance with indigenous people, but I suspect few of us have actually seen it in its short blooming period.)
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
