NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, September 11, 2018 (Tuesday)
Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or
photo labeling.
For more information on Nature Moncton, check into the website at www.naturemoncton.com
For more information on Nature Moncton, check into the website at www.naturemoncton.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
To respond by e-mail, please address
your message to the information line editor nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com.
** It’s a great time of year to be on
the watch for interesting and sometimes surprisingly large and colourful
caterpillars. Stella and Jean-Paul
LeBlanc came across the larval caterpillar of the SMALL-EYED SPHINX MOTH. They have a wide variety of food plants,
including many common trees and shrubs.
** The giant PUFFBALL MUSHROOMS
[Vesse-de-loup] that always catch everyone’s attention are coming on. Claude Plourde in New Denmark came across one
that tipped the scales at 15 lbs. A
second similar sized was brought to the office of the Victoria Star Newspaper
in Grand Falls where journalist Simon Arseneau got a photo. The GIANT PUFFBALL [Vesse-de-loup géante] is quite edible as are all Puffballs
except the PIG-SKIN POISON PUFFBALL. The
edible puffballs have to be fresh and homogeneous white inside. They can be sliced like cheese and sautéed and
tend to take on the flavour of whatever they are cooked with.
** Shawn Cormier shares another of his
colourful photos featuring AMERICAN GOLDFINCH [Chardonneret jaune] with sunflowers as a prop.
** Krista Lewis got a photo of a doe WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de
Virginie] and
fawn on Lewis Mountain Monday morning.
The fawn is not showing obvious signs of the fawn spotting. It would appear that that change is starting,
especially in fawns born early in the spring.
** Several spiders are very noticeable
this time of year as the females tend to be up to maximum size. Susie Barnett got a nice photo of a cooperative
BANDED ARGIOPE SPIDER near Anagance on Monday.
** There are two species of LADIES’-TRESSES
ORCHIDS that tend to bloom in September.
I came across a surprisingly large number of YELLOW LADY’S TRESSES in
Miramichi several days ago, and came across one lone plant of NODDING LADIES-TRESSES
in a sphagnum bog on Sunday. Orchid guru
Jim Goltz reviewed the photos of both as they are not easy to
differentiate. Photos are attached of
the Nodding Ladies’-tresses. Jim
comments to note that the flowers are pure white and that the upper sepals and
petals are not flared upward. I noted
that the basal leaves were much longer and more sharply pointed, and tended to
be more erect than the Yellow Ladies-tresses recently found. But I only have the one specimen to compare
this time.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH AND SUNFLOWERS. SEPT 10, 2018. SHAWN CORMIER
BANDED ARGIOPE. SEPT 10, 2018 SUSIE BARNETT
GIANT PUFFBALL. SEPT 7, 2018. CLAUDE PLOURDE
GIANT PUFFBALL. SEPT 7, 2018. SIMON ARSENEAU
NODDING LADIES'-TRESSES. SEPT 9, 2018. NELSON POIRIER
NODDING LADIES'-TRESSES. SEPT 9, 2018. NELSON POIRIER
NODDING LADIES'-TRESSES. SEPT 9, 2018. NELSON POIRIER
SMALL-EYED SPHINX MOTH CATERPILLAR. SEPT 07, 2018. JP LeBLANC
WHITE-TAILED DEER. SEPT 10, 2018. KRISTA DOYLE
