Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 26 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Aug. 26, 2018 (Sunday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com

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

** Louise Nichols shares an excellent group of photos of the shorebirds she saw at that now famous spot in Petit Cap on Friday. Anyone interested in shorebird identification should look at these closely. Note the white supercilium and long primary projection on the WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER [Bécasseau à croupion blanc], the nice size comparison of a White-rumped and a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER [Bécasseau semipalmé] together, a tagged Semipalmated Sandpiper, which we’ll hear more about soon, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS [Bécasseau roux] moulting their breeding plumage, and one very serious about its deeper lunch, a BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER [Pluvier argenté] with lots of breeding plumage remaining, and note the larger bill and sharp black and white mantle in contrast to the less common AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER [Pluvier bronzé], and its white undertail coverts; also note the colourful carrot-coloured legs of the RUDDY TURNSTONE [Tournepierre à collier]. Louise observed 10 species of shorebirds, and possibly eleven.

** Jean-Paul LeBlanc has a mushroom befriending a garden rake that maybe he had apparently forgotten about. The fresher looking ones appear to be the RED-BELTED POLYPORE (Formitopis pinicola); the rims are white, as they are young but will turn a rusty red on the rim. I’m not sure about the ones in the middle. They could be the same species, well past their “best before” date. And, by the way, when was the last time you raked your lawn, JP??

** Aldo Dorio got a photo of a SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER [Bécassin roux] chumming up to a RUDDY TURNSTONE [Tournepierre à collier] on Saturday at Hay Island. He also got a young-of-the-year GRAY CATBIRD [Moqueur chat] that nicely shows its chestnut undertail coverts. Aldo also got a photo of a CECROPIA MOTH [Saturnie cécropia] caterpillar. This caterpillar forages on the foliage of a variety of tree species, but in some areas has become less commonly found. The adult moth is one of the largest, if not the largest, of our native moths.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton