NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Sep. 16, 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)
** Nature
Moncton’s fall season starts on Tuesday evening, September 18, with the first
monthly meeting at 7 o’clock at the Mapleton Rotary Lodge, across from the
former Cabela’s location. Ronnie- Gilles LeBlanc will be the presenter to tell
us how our region’s dykelands, that we roam so frequently, came about and how
very significant they are. The write-up is attached below:
As naturalists and bird watchers, we roam over
many wild places. And in our quests we often find ourselves in or near
the very rich-in-biodiversity salt marshes of the region. But many of the
most accessible marshes having now been converted to dykelands, have you ever
asked yourself why and how that happened? The presentation offered at
Nature Moncton’s September meeting will focus on this subject. The talk
given by well- renowned historian Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc, who has had a long and
illustrious career with the Université de Moncton and Environment Canada, will
help us understand better these very special places. Without people
realizing it, much of the Bay of Fundy's polders or dykeland in both New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia offers some of the best farmland in the world which
has been achieved thanks to the « aboiteaux ». This technology,
which originated in North America with French settlers nearly four hundred
years ago, has evolved very little over the centuries. Considered among
the first major civil engineering works on this continent, the aboiteau system
allowed the Acadian people to prosper until the middle of the eighteenth
century and it is thanks to this technology that the agricultural regions of
the Bay of Fundy flourished in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This presentation will address issues such as the origin of the aboiteau system
as well as its operation, with illustrations from yesterday and today that will
illuminate for us the complexity of a device designed to cope with the most
powerful tides in the world. As naturalists, knowledge of nature is
always something we strive for and this presentation should help us understand
much better an important part of the natural world that surrounds us.
Don’t miss it!
** Louise
Nichols, Wendy Sullivan and Elaine Gallant visited Petit-Cap on Friday
afternoon to check on shorebirds. Among the expected shorebirds, Louise got a
nice photo of a HUDSONIAN GODWIT [Barge hudsonienne], as well as one in kneeling
position, as
well as what they thought was a STILT SANDPIPER [Bécasseau à échasses] but were
not able to get a good photo due to the sudden appearance of a bounding dog on
the scene. A few sightings of Stilt Sandpiper were made at that site on
Thursday; there seem to be more reports of them than usual this year.
** Dave
Christie comments that he usually has the last hummingbird of the season at
Mary’s Point around the end of the first week of September. This year
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS [Colibri à gorge rubis] were regular until Sept. 5,
then none until Friday, Sept. 14, when an apparent juvenile male was fueling up
on Phlox and late-flowering Hosta. Dave also had a second hummingbird
individual [somewhat larger] that dropped by on Saturday morning. He felt this
one to be a female with clean white throat while the straggler on Friday had a
streaked throat that suggested an immature male. Saturday’s visitor came right
inside Dave’s sunporch, requiring netting and release.
On Sept. 12, while releasing a Blue Jay
trying to steal dog food from his porch, Dave noted a brightly marked carrion
beetle, the TOMENTOSE BURYING BEETLE [Nécrophore à thorax
tomenteux], named
because of its hairy yellow thorax. Like many carrion beetles, it is showing
mites clinging to its body, in the photo that Dave got of it.
** Brian Stone
and I spent time at Keji Park in Nova Scotia last week. I spent a few days with
him and we scoured trails and waterways for interesting items, and found lots.
We’ll dribble out some of the photos we got together and also some that Brian
got solo over the next days.
It was interesting to watch a group of six
adult COMMON LOONS [Plongeon huard] gathering together in a small inlet,
suspected to be post-breeding birds gathering together for migration later.
The plant PARTRIDGEBERRY [Pain de
perdrix] was in fruit, showing the two “eyes” at the base of the fruit, as a
result of the split ovary, and also the heavy white central line of its leaf.
Two mushrooms noted were HEMLOCK VARNISH SHELF [ganoderme de la pruche] that grows only on Hemlock trees, and
the RED-BELTED POLYPORE [Polypore marginée] which is not as particular about
its tree substrate; the belt will turn reddish as it matures.
We encountered a lot of WITCH-HAZEL
[Hamamélis de Virginie] shrub on one trail. This shrub has some unique
features. Its buds are still enclosed and will burst into a bright yellow bloom
in October, and sometimes even into November, defying frosty times, to form the
witch-hazel nut, while other plants are long past flowering. The Witch-hazel
also is host to the Witch-hazel Cone Gall that forms the unique gall on the
leaf that’s photographed. It will turn red as it gets older and can be very
numerous. There is also a lot of Witch-hazel shrubs at French Fort Cove in
Miramichi.
One beach area
of a freshwater lake had many small PICKEREL FROGS [Grenouille des marais].
They were very cryptic and very fast.
An area of the
vining plant GROUNDNUT [Patates en chapelet], a.k.a. Indian Potato, was
displaying its colourful unique blooms. These blooms are triploid in our area,
which means they do not produce viable seed. However, this plant does produce
very edible small tubers, thus the name Indian Potato, which are on underground
roots, which are very capable of producing new plants, not requiring seeds to
propagate.
A GARTER SNAKE
[Couleuvre rayée] was encountered and cooperated for photos, including one of
Brian conversing with it. Note the enlarged area in the body that indicates it
had recently had a meal, very probably one of the abundant frogs in the area.
A nice stand of
NEW YORK FERN [Dryoptéride de New York] was encountered. The only two native
ferns that we have with pinnae going to the base are the New York Fern and the
Ostrich Fern [Ptérétide noduleuse]. Ostrich Fern is much larger and has no
spore cases on the underside of the pinnae.
It was nice to
see several BAND-WINGED MEADOWHAWK [Sympétrum semi-ambré] dragonflies in one
area. Note the huge, darker reddish-brown area at the base of the hind wing to
easily identify this meadowhawk.
Several young
of the year AMERICAN TOADS [Crapaud d’Amérique] were commonly seen. Note the
parotoid glands pointed out to easily identify our only toad, plus the very
warty skin. The parotoid gland gives off an offensive liquid when the toad is
handled. This makes many predators drop it, except for some such as snakes and
Broad-winged Hawks.
BEECH-DROPS
[Épifage de Virginie] is a plant found under Beech trees that is parasitic on
the tree’s roots. Most plants were well past their blooming stage but a few
were in full bloom, which can be appreciated in close-up photos. The plants are
usually 4 to 10 inches in height. They do not photosynthesize as they get their
nutrition compliments of the Beech roots.
The red pods of
MARSH ST-JOHN’S-WORT [Millepertuis de Virginie] were showing nicely as they
mature.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
AMERICAN TOAD. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
A
BAND-WINGED MEADOWHAWK DRAGONFLY. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
BEECH DROPS. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
BEECH DROPS. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
BRIAN STONE CHARMING GARTER SNAKE. SEPT 6, 2018. NELSON POIRIER
COMMON LOONS. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
COMMON LOONS. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
GARTER SNAKE. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
GARTER SNAKE. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
GROUNDNUT AKA INDIAN POTATO. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
HEMLOCK VARNISH SHELF MUSHROOM. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
HUDSONIAN GODWIT . LOUISE NICHOLS. SEPT 14, 2018
HUDSONIAN GODWIT . LOUISE NICHOLS. SEPT 14, 2018
MARSH ST. JOHN'S WORT. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
MARSH ST. JOHN'S WORT. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
NEW YORK FERN. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
PARTRIDGE BERRY PLANT IN FRUIT. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
PARTRIDGE BERRY PLANT IN FRUIT. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
PICKEREL FROG. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
RED-BELTED POLYPORE MUSHROOM. SEPT. 07, 2018.. BRIAN STONE
STILT SANDPIPER. LOUISE NICHOLS. SEPT 14, 2018
TOMENTOSE BURYING BEETLE (Nicrophorus tomentosus) .SEPT12, 2018. DAVE CHRISTIE
WITCH HAZEL GALL. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
WITCH HAZEL WITH BUD YET TO OPEN TO FLOWER. SEPT. 07, 2018. BRIAN STONE
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