Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 14 2016

** Ron Steeves provides an update on the four GREAT EGRETS [Grande Aigrette] that showed up at the decommissioned Salisbury lagoon. All four were still there on Saturday evening, which was surprising because many people and dogs were walking around and looking at them. With the lack of rain, the lagoon has several sand bars exposed and is attracting a few shorebirds. Ron comments that there are a few BALD EAGLES [Pygargue à tête blanche] in the area, and the egrets lift off each time they fly by, but the egrets return to the lagoon after the potential threat has passed.

Roger LeBlanc recalls that six GREAT EGRETS [Grande Aigrette] appeared at St. Martins in 1997; that was 19 years ago. So it seems that four stands as a runner-up record.

** There must be a movement of warblers on. Jamie and Karen Burris went for a walk near Turtle Creek on Saturday morning and noted more than 50 wood warblers [paruline]. Jamie was able to photograph a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER [Paruline noir et blanc], a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER [Paruline bleue] and a BAY-BREASTED WARBLER [Paruline à poitrine baie].

** Louise Nichols noted a large number of black caterpillars skeletonizing alder bushes in the Sackville Waterfowl Park on Friday. She got a photo; this is the larval stage of the ALDER FLEA BEETLE (Altica ambiens), which reaches normal maturity around mid-August, and can really do a number on alder foliage, which seems to be occurring at the Sackville Waterfowl Park.

** This time of year, some fledgling BLUE JAYS [Geai bleu] show bald head and neck areas and look somewhat different. The area of the crest and neck are the last area for new feathers of the post-natal moult to open out, often leaving pin feather stubble in the process. Debbie Batog got a photo of one beside an adult bird in her McKee Mills yard. It was once thought that this was a mite problem, but it is now considered a moult process, in at least most cases.

** Brian Stone shares some photos from Perth, Ontario, of some things that can be found in New Brunswick, including two views of a GRAY TREEFROG [Rainette versicolore], a BULLFROG [Ouaouaron], and what we think is the uncommon brown coloration of the N. LEOPARD FROG [Grenouille léopard]. It is usually the PICKEREL FROG [Grenouille des marais] that shows this brown colour, but the round spotting, enclosed with white, is consistent with the Leopard Frog, which on occasion may indeed be brown.

** Aldo Dorio got a photo of a fledgling RED-EYED VIREO [Viréo aux yeux rouges] having lunch delivered on Saturday Note the more yellow wash on the rump of the juvenile versus the adult male, which is normal.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton