Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 27 2016

**A fondly-remembered Past President of Nature Moncton has passed away on August 23rd. Derek Gemmell’s funeral will be held today, Saturday, at 1:00 p.m. at Cobb’s Funeral Home in Riverview.

**The Nature Moncton Shorebird workshop gets underway at the Tankville School at 1:00 p.m. today, Saturday, with room for more participants. Roger LeBlanc reports there were lots of Shorebirds at Petit Cap on Friday, so the field trip portion will head there at 3:00 p.m. until dusk. A contact number if needed to reach the group is 866-2752 during the afternoon. Roger tallied 13 Shorebird species there on Friday, including RED KNOT [Bécasseau maubèche] and AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS [Pluvier bronzé], along with Raptors. The timing should be perfect.

**Gordon Rattray got some excellent photos of three BOBOLINKS [Goglu des prés] at Gray Brook Marsh on Thursday, all in female plumage, some of which may be young of the year. Gordon also paid a visit to the Sackville Waterfowl Park to get a striking photo of a MERLIN [Faucon émerillon] after a failed attack on a group of YELLOWLEGS [Chevalier], and the main event of the day, a lone WILSON'S PHALAROPE [Phalarope de Wilson]. There was one that visited the park about this time last year, and stayed there and at the Amherst water treatment ponds for several days. Gordon also saw young of the year PIED-BILLED GREBES [Grèbe à bec bigarré], BELTED KINGFISHERS [Martin-pêcheur d'Amérique], two SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS [Bécassin roux] and the usual Ducks.

**CEDAR WAXWINGS [Jaseur d'Amérique] are late-season nesters and it is this time of year we see the very different from their parents juvenile birds. Aldo Dorio got a photo of some juvenile Cedar Waxwings on Friday.

**Curt Nason mentioned it yesterday, but a second reminder to check very low in the western sky at sunset tonight to see a very close conjunction of the planets VENUS and JUPITER that may even take binoculars to see them separately. They may look so close together, but in reality they’re very far apart. We are seeing the paths of travel come near. Brian Stone got a night before photo on Friday night of the two planets, and will be after one tonight when they will be in very close conjunction. An animated photo of what to expect is shown as well.

**GREAT ANGELICA [Angélique noire-pourprée] is in peak bloom at the moment. I came across a patch of them in Lower Coverdale on Friday. Some photos are attached of the round balls of blooms that make up the umbels. It is important to be able to recognize this non-toxic plant from HOGWEED [Berce du Caucase], which is here, though not common, as Hogweed can cause severe skin reactions, and also to identify it from WATER-HEMLOCK [Carotte à Moreau] and COW-PARSNIP [Berce très grande]. Water-Hemlock is very toxic. There were many insects nectaring the flowers, including HONEY BEES [Abeille à miel], BUMBLEBEES [Bourdon], GOLDENROD SOLDIER BEETLES [Grand cantharide jaune], and Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles [Coccinelle asiatique].

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton