Nature Moncton Nature News: June 26 2016

** Louise Nichols has hosted a family of NORTHERN FLICKERS [Pic flamboyant] in her Sackville yard, and they have recently fledged. Louise was able to get great photos of their fast development; take note of the dates of the photos. On June 20 Louise was aware that there were 4 nestlings demanding food from their parents. Delivery was a very united effort of both parents. In the June 22 photo, it appears that two of the nestlings may have fledged, with two left squabbling for space. On June 24, it appeared that only one remained, and when Louise returned later that day, the nest cavity was empty. Note the very long, extended tongue of the woodpecker in one very lucky photo. Louise says it was fascinating to watch the action, noting that the adults appeared to feed the young by regurgitation. All the nestlings had a black malar line, which has Louise wondering whether they might all have been males or would a moult would change that.

Louise also was able to get a photo of the male member of the RUDDY DUCK [Érismature rousse] pair at the Sackville Waterfowl Park, by going from the back of the park to where the trail meets the river, where Mister was posing, showing the ruddy coloured body and striking Wedgwood blue bill.

** Brian Stone was very rewarded by a visit to the Twin Oaks area nature trail on Saturday. He got some nice action photos of several of Mother Nature’s community in this inner city park trail that many of us may be overlooking. Photos included dragonflies FOUR-SPOTTED SKIMMER [La quadrimaculée] and HUDSONIAN WHITEFACE [Leucorrhine hudsonienne], MAGNOLIA WARBLER [Paruline à tête cendrée], SIX-SPOTTED TIGER BEETLE, CHIPPING SPARROW [Bruant familier], and GREEN FROG [Grenouille verte]. The Mink Frog and Green Frog can be easily confused. Brian has re-considered the identification of one labelled Green Frog in yesterday’s edition. It is re-attached today as MINK FROG [Grenouille du Nord]. We will get into the details for distinguishing between these two frogs in the future.

Brian noted five butterfly species on the trail: COMMON RINGLET [Satyre fauve], VICEROY [Vice-roi], PECK’S SKIPPER [Hespérie de Peck], HARRIS’S CHECKERSPOT [Damier de Harris] and NORTHERN CRESCENT [Croissant perlé]. The sun and heat really had the butterflies out using the available solar power.

** Pat and I spent the past 5 days on remote Glasier Lake in northern New Brunswick. Driving across the province on Route 108, the Renous Highway. The whole part of our travel is known for MOOSE [Orignal], BLACK BEAR [Ours noir] and other wildlife. It was a surprise not to spot a single Moose, but when we returned to our Little Southwest Miramichi camp driveway, a Moose was standing in the river! It appeared to be a young bull, as the velvet antlers seemed to be just starting to spread, as can be seen in the photos.

COMMON GOLDENEYE [Garrot à oeil d'or] with their chicks were quite common on the lake. A Black Bear swam across the lake but no photo was permitted, and many CRAYFISH [écrevisse] were caught which will have identity confirmed.

Several Nature Moncton folk have MASON BEE (abeille maçonne)] houses erected, following the workshop in April. Can we get some reports on that? I built several more and put them out at our camp. The cool spring seemed to make for slow activity at first, but Mason Bees did become much more active, filling many of the holes in May and June, on warmer days. At the moment there are a few Mason Bees being seen, but what I believe are POTTER WASPS [[guêpe maçonne] are taking over, to fill many remaining holes. The Mason Bee nests were built with holes 5 1/2 inches deep. . The Mason bees take in a sack of pollen , lay an egg on it and seal a section to create five nests for hole.The Potter wasps are solitary nesters as well but place a paralyzed caterpillar in the nest plug with their egg. The Potter wasps are very difficult to photograph as they come and go so quickly.

Both these species are significant pollinators, especially the Mason bee which has been the object of the effort of supplying nesting boxes.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton