Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 29, 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January 29, 2019 (Tuesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** Yves and Suzanne Poussart drove along the coast from Shediac to Bouctouche to check for coastal bird life on Monday. The only coastal site where they found open water was that always special spot below the Cocagne bridge. In total approximately eighty MERGANSERS and GOLDENEYES were present. They did spot two male NORTHERN PINTAILS [Canard pilet] at the Bouctouche lagoon among the approximately two hundred MALLARD [Canard colvert] ducks there.

** Woodpeckers do seem to be having a good season but Judy and Sterling Marsh were a bit surprised to see three HAIRY WOODPECKERS [Pic chevelu] together in their yard pine tree around a suet feeder on Monday showing no interspecies competition, a possible sign of the season.

** Several folks have commented on the spiders they see in the winter running across the snow in the Riverview Marsh. Jamie Burris was able to get some nice photos of them and Calum Ewing, who has a great working knowledge of spiders, has returned a comment which I am going to quote below.

“It looks a lot like one of the Funnel Web Weavers in the family Agelenidae, and a lot like one of the Wadotes species. At this time of year, the layer of dead leaves and plants under the snow has a lot of insect and other arthropod activity. Milder temperatures or rain can flood the space between the soil and the snow and more mobile species will move up onto the surface of the snow to escape the flooding below"......Calum Ewing

Mystery solved and we can now “call them by name”. The day that Jamie got these photos was a milder day, but far from balmy.

** The timing is appropriate on the spiders on the Riverview Marsh however Brian Stone took a photo of a colorful spider back on September 29^th, 2018, in Sackville. It has been out on BugGuide hoping for an identification that came back yesterday as a SHEETWEB SPIDER. I am assuming that it is one of those spiders that make those large, sheet-like webs that can cover a surprising territory during the summer.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton