Editor & Proofreader

Editor: Nelson Poirier    Proofreader: Louise Nichols

Thursday, 13 August 2026

August 13 2026

 

Nature Moncton Nature News

 

Clicking on the photos enlarges them for closer observation. Please note that clicking on any photo enlarges it full screen and then clicking on the black area on either side of the photo brings one right back to the main page.

 

 

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

 

**Fifteen members joined last evening’s Nature Moncton Wednesday Night Walk at the Tucker Street Ducks Unlimited lagoons, led by Judy Cairns and Dale Pugh.  Judy shared some interesting history on the area and how the lagoons came to be.  The weather was perfect and the views spectacular.  Special sightings included a bald eagle on the hunt, a beaver, a great blue heron, swallows feasting on mosquitoes, toads, greater yellowlegs, short-billed dowitchers, a few busy beavers, and many ducks, geese, and birds.  A slug hitched a ride on a member’s sneaker before being gently placed in a safe spot off the trail. 

(Editor’s note: The weather cooperated perfectly with moderate temperatures and a breeze, with nonstop observations and the perfect sunset to terminate a great evening with Mother Nature and comradeship.)

 


NATURE MONCTON WEDNESDAY NIGHT WALK.  AUGUST 12, 2026.  DALE PUGH


NATURE MONCTON WEDNESDAY NIGHT WALK.  AUGUST 12, 2026.  DALE PUGH



GREAT BLUE HERON.  AUGUST 16, 2026.  DALE PUGH




WED NIGHT WALK.  SCOTTISH THISTLE (NOT NATIVE TO CANADA).  AUGUST 12, 2026.  DALE PUGH


Dale did a bit of research on this one. The Scottish thistle is native to Europe and Western Asia, and was brought to North America as a garden plant in the 1800s.  It now grows wild in several Canadian provinces and is considered an invasive weed. The native Canada thistle is significantly smaller with fewer thorns.



WED NIGHT WALK.  HITCHIKER SLUG.  AUGUST 12, 2026.  DALE PUGH


WED NIGHT WALK.  BEAVER.  AUGUST 12, 2026.  DALE PUGH



**Brian Stone sends photos from the Nature Moncton Wednesday Night Walk that took place at the Tucker St. Ducks Unlimited ponds in clear weather with the participation of many mosquitoes. Photos include some of the many vocal yellowlegs as well as barn swallows, an immature cedar waxwing, great blue herons, an immature bald eagle, some ducks flying past, and a relaxed-looking beaver. The sunset was exceptional. 



LESSER YELLOWLEGS. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE


GREATER YELLOWLEGS. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE 






GREAT BLUE HERON. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE


CEDAR WAXWING (YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR). AUG. 12, 2026.  BRIAN STONE 


CEDAR WAXWING (YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR). AUG. 12, 2026.  BRIAN STONE 


(Editor's note: the cedar waxwing is a late nester with the breast streaking identifying the young-of-the-year birds.)


BEAVER. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE 


BARN SWALLOWS. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE 



SWALLOWS. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE 




BALD EAGLE (IMMATURE). AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE


TUCKER ST. LAGOONS. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE




NATURE MONCTON WEDNESDAY NIGHT WALK. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE

MALLARD DUCKS. AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE 


 

**Greg Vanderknapp photographed a red-necked phalarope in juvenile plumage at the Salisbury Highland Park lagoon area on Wednesday.

This is very much a pelagic bird, but occasional sightings are not unexpected, as small numbers of red-necked phalaropes do seem to turn up at sewage lagoons and wetlands in NB during migration. Another was reported recently at the Hampton Lagoon.

Greg also got a nice photo of a Wilson’s snipe that posed for him at the Salisbury Highland Park lagoon on Wednesday.



RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (IMMATURE NON-BREEDING PLUMAGE). AUG 12, 2026. DAN VANDERKNAPP


WILSON'S SNIPE. AUG 12, 2026.  DAN VANDERKNAPP


 

** The warm days of August have the cicadas emerging from the ground to head up into tall trees to loudly emit characteristic vocalizations on their mating missions.

Bev Schneider was in the right place at the right time with a camera to photograph a dog-day cicada emerging from its exoskeleton.

The cicada undergoes incomplete metamorphosis, skipping the pupal (cocoon) stage entirely. They hatch as nymphs that crawl from the ground to quickly head up trees on their mission. They shed their old skin (exoskeleton) to emerge as adults, which was captured in Bev’s photograph.



DOG-DAY CICADA (EMERGING FROM EXOSKELETON). AUG 12, 2026. BEV SCHNEIDER


DOG-DAY CICADA (EMERGING FROM EXOSKELETON). AUG 12, 2026. BEV SCHNEIDER



 

**The large sphinx moths have often completed their mating mission by August, and we see little of them.

However, Terry Power had a fresh laurel sphinx visit his Hardwicke home on Wednesday. This sphinx can double-brood in a season, so this may be the reason a fresh one is appearing in August.

Terry also took note of a brown marmorated stink bug that is easily identified by its characteristic alternating light and dark bands along the sides of the abdomen and a white band on the antennae.



MARMORATED STINK BUG. AUG 12, 2026. TERRY POWER


LAUREL SPHINX MOTH. AUG 12, 2026. TERRY POWER


 

**Katie Girvan had a colourful virgin tiger moth land on her shirt and it was quite content to stay there no matter how many times she put it on a leaf or branch or even the porch light.  It kept coming back and just sitting and vibrating on her shirt. It stayed on her hand for a few minutes until she passed it off to the porch light. 



VIRGIN TIGER MOTH. AUG 12, 2026.  KATIE GIRVAN


**Brian Stone managed to get some photos of the different stages of the partial solar eclipse that took place on Wednesday afternoon. He didn't manage to expose all the photos equally, and he missed some stages due to cloud interference, but he put the best images he got together in a composite image to show the progress of the partial eclipse. 

(Editor’s note: It was truly an amazing sight to put on solar viewing glasses and watch this astronomical phenomenon take place.)



SOLAR ECLIPSE (PARTIAL). AUG. 12, 2026. BRIAN STONE


 

**Brian Stone stayed up late on Wednesday night and into the early hours of Thursday to watch for meteors from the yearly Perseid meteor shower. He was hoping to get a photograph of one, and he had some success as a moderately bright one showed up on one of his cell phone photos, taken with the 4-minute time-exposure astrophotography setting. Visually, he saw only 11 meteors in the time that he was out watching, after the clouds cleared up. Obviously, he missed the peak of the shower. 



PERSEID METEOR. AUGUST 13, 2026. BRIAN STONE 


PERSEID METEOR. AUGUST 13, 2026. BRIAN STONE 


 

Top of FormBottom of Formnelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

 

 

 

 

  

Wednesday, 12 August 2026

August 12 2026

 

 

Nature Moncton Nature News

 

Clicking on the photos enlarges them for closer observation. Please note that clicking on any photo enlarges it full screen and then clicking on the black area on either side of the photo brings one right back to the main page.

 

 

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

 

 

**This week’s Nature Moncton Wednesday evening walk tonight, 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.

 

**Sue and Fred Richards were checking their milkweed patch for monarch butterfly caterpillars and saw a spined soldier bug consuming a caterpillar and got a photograph.

The caterpillar had been attacked and was almost lifeless, and the bug was trying to pull it somewhere or consume it there, not sure.

It made them glad to have three monarch butterfly caterpillars on milkweed branches protected in a screened cage.

(Editor’s note: The literature says that the spined soldier bug will eat a monarch butterfly caterpillar.  These generalist predatory stink bugs pierce the caterpillar with a sharp, straw-like mouthpart, injecting paralyzing venom, and drink its liquefied insides. They can be found hunting on milkweed plants where the caterpillar larvae are found.)

 

 


SPINED SOLDIER BUG (NYMPH) AUG. 11, 2026. FRED RICHARDS


SPINED SOLDIER BUG (NYMPH) AUG. 11, 2026. FRED RICHARDS




**Today, this afternoon beginning at 1:53 pm, there will be a partial eclipse of the Sun over Moncton (and most of Canada) that lasts for about 2 hours. To view it directly, eclipse glasses will be necessary. 


Brian


Partial Eclipse Information.jpg

 

Top of FormBottom of Formnelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, 11 August 2026

August 11 2026

 

 

Nature Moncton Nature News

 

Clicking on the photos enlarges them for closer observation. Please note that clicking on any photo enlarges it full screen and then clicking on the black area on either side of the photo brings one right back to the main page.

 

 

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

 

 

**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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Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton