Nature Moncton Nature News: July 27 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 27, 2017 ( Thursday )

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Dale Gaskin is very much enjoying EASTERN BLUEBIRDS [Merlebleu de l'Est] in his 709 Dawson Settlement yard. He suspects there is more than one pair and also suspects that he has seen fledged young. Both male and female come to his birdbath and take their dips very seriously with water flying everywhere. Dale also heard a COYOTE [Coyote] vocalizing early Sunday morning and briefly saw one in his yard on Monday morning. He has also seen Coyote scat which is the first that he has noted in a year.

** Aldo Dorio got a nice photo of an AMERICAN LADY [Vanesse de Virginie] butterfly. Note the two very large eye spots on the hindwing underside and the squared off forewing tip to help separate this species from the Painted Lady butterfly. Aldo also got two photos of a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON [Bihoreau gris] and a fledgling WILLET [Chevalier semipalmé] chick.

** Brian Stone and I dropped by Cheryl Stewart's place in Quarryville on Wednesday to check on the approximately 20 CLIFF SWALLOW [Hirondelle à front blanc] nests that she has on her home. Some nestlings were still in some of the nests being tended by adults but Cheryl feels that many had already fledged. She commented that numbers are down from last year but there was still lots of activity at the site.

We checked out a few Milkweed patches for Monarch butterfly activity off of Route 126 but did not find any Monarchs. However, one of the Milkweed plants off Route 126 had one leaf with approximately 40 small caterpillars feeding on it. Their appearance was consistent with the larvae of the MILKWEED TUSSOCK MOTH. I saw a Milkweed patch with the caterpillars of this moth feeding on it in 2014 in the Fredericton area. Large areas of the patch were stripped near naked and were just skeletonized leaves and I had never seen them since. Am attaching 2 photos from that encounter. By the way they skeletonized the patch, would suspect them to be unwanted visitors. Some links to read more about the Milkweed Tussock Moth are http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.ca/2011/07/milkweed-leaves-trenched-and.html and http://www.backyardnature.net/instars.htm

Some PAINTED LADY [Belle dame] butterflies were also nectaring on Milkweed blooms, as were some ATLANTIS FRITILLARY [Argynne de l'Atlantique] butterflies, GREAT SPANGLED FRITILLARY and also a PECK'S SKIPPER [Hespérie de Peck] butterfly was noted. With the Painted Lady butterfly note the four eye spots on the underside of the hindwing, two small ones and two larger ones, to quickly separate it from the American Lady butterfly also featured in today's edition.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton