Nature Moncton Nature News: August 7 2017

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Aug. 7, 2017 (Monnday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

** Geoff Barnett noted some animal scat and a hole under his yard fence in urban Moncton on Saturday. Photos suggested SKUNK [Mouffette] and the very well-fed appearing evidence strutted across his yard on Sunday.

** Maurice and Louise Richard got a surprise when they arrived at their Acadieville cabin on Saturday. Approximately 30 to 40 DEER FLIES swarmed their vehicle. They thought at first that they had run over a wasp nest, then wondered if the flies were not attracted to the carbon dioxide of the vehicle. They waited several minutes before making a run for the cabin. Lots of more welcome creatures greeted them, including BELTED KINGFISHERS [Martin-pêcheur ], CICADAS, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS [Colibri à gorge rubis] and a SNOWSHOE HARE [Lièvre d'Amérique].

** Brian Coyle has been training his trail camera on an area near his Upper Mountain Road home. He shares some Dropbox videos of a WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie] in very nice condition and another of a COYOTE [Coyote]. See them at the attached links: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4x1v08r7vyqamj/STC_0007%20%282%29.AVI?

dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/10vcoz9twr5hi71/STC_0008.AVI?dl=0

** Jamie and Karen Burris are active foragers of wild edibles. They recently found a sizable crop of BEAKED HAZELNUTS [Noisetier à long bec] and BEECH [Hêtre américain] nuts and luckily got to them before the squirrels did. Jamie says that the hazelnuts are ripe and ready to be dried, but the beech nuts need a few more days to mature. Jamie also got photos of seed clusters on a HOP HORNBEAM tree as well as on a STRIPED MAPLE (aka Moosewood) samara.

** The CHIPPING SPARROWS [Bruant familier] are fledging at our Little Southwest Miramichi camp and being brought to the feeder area. The fledglings would be difficult to recognize if not with their parents. The fledgling plumage makes the young look bigger than the adults.

** I'm attaching a photo of the liverwort with the name COMMON LIVERWORT or UMBRELLA LIVERWORT (Marchantia polymorpha) taken on the Aroostook River shore on Saturday. The arrows point to two different features; the left arrow indicates the palm-tree like structure known as the sporophyte that contains cells for sexual reproduction; the right arrow to the bird-nest like structure that is for asexual reproduction and known as splash cups. The tiny "eggs" are asexual spore producing cells that a new liverwort can regenerate from. It is thought that rain splashing in the cups causes the spores to be ejected. It's a very interesting plant. These details are courtesy of bryophyte guru Bruce Bagnall.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier,