Nature Moncton Nature News: June 13 2016

** Ray Gauvin shares an interesting photo of an AMERICAN CROW [Corneille d'Amérique] showing the eye as blue. Juvenile crows do have blue eyes, but this appears to be an adult bird, which should have a dark eye, and timing is early for fledgling crows to be out of the nest. Many animals have something called the nictitating membrane, also known as “third eyelid,” that flashes closed before the eye closes as an additional protective mechanism. This membrane is well-developed in some animals, especially in most birds, and can appear as bluish when it covers the eye. We think that this is indeed the situation that Ray’s camera has captured with this crow.

Ray also got a photo of a large POLYPHEMUS [Polyphème d'Amérique] moth wing wedged in a door mat. The moth presumably became lunch for a predator that discarded the wing.

** Aldo Dorio got a photo of his yard’s female EASTERN BLUEBIRD [Merlebleu de l'Est] re-tooling its nest. He also got a photo of a male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT [Paruline masquée].

Clarence Cormier captured a nice photo of a RED ADMIRAL butterfly at his Grande-Dique site on Saturday.

** Brian Stone went on a mission to locate a MOURNING WARBLER [Paruline triste] at a site in Middlesex, where Carmella Melanson had recently photographed one, and he found it. It was raining and dim, which made the warbler not show itself well, but he got a few photos of the bird that is obviously staying at the same site. Brian also got photos of an OVENBIRD [Paruline couronnée] and a male YELLOW WARBLER [Paruline jaune] at other sites on that mission.

** I couldn’t resist the temptation to re-visit the BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE [Mouette tridactyle] nesting colony at Grande Anse on Saturday. The tide was low in mid-afternoon to allow closer range observations while walking partway along the shoreline. The colony appears very content there and it was pleasant to watch them come in with some type of fish. I could not see any young in the nests, but the nests are very high up on the cliffs so that chicks could very easily be missed. Several photos of the activity are attached, one showing a surprisingly large fish prey for the size of the bird. Mark Gautreau at the Canadian Rivers Institute suspects it to be an ATLANTIC HERRING [Hareng de l’Atlantique]. Kittiwakes average 17” in length, about half the size of the average HERRING GULL [Goéland argenté].

** The big moths are coming on nicely for their nocturnal mating flights. On Sunday morning my moth light sheet in Miramichi had three beautiful LUNA MOTHS [Papillon lune], one MODEST SPHINX [Sphinx du peuplier], one POLYPHEMUS MOTH [Polyphème d'Amérique], a few BLINDED SPHINX [Sphinx aveugle], as well as ONE-EYED SPHINX [Sphinx du saule] and NORTHERN APPLE SPHINX [Sphinx du pommier]. Several other smaller species joined them. It was raining heavily but the temperature got them out and moving.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton