Nature Moncton Nature News: June 15 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, 15 June 2019 (Saturday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Catherine Clements

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

**Jim Johnson in Scotch Settlement is getting a very sizable TREE SWALLOW [Hirondelle bicolore] village built up around his home. Three CLIFF SWALLOW [Hirondelle à front blanc] pairs have also arrived to build in the eave of his home. They have chosen the right place to patronize, so hope this will be the start of a new colony of this swallow species that is down very significantly in numbers.

**Louise Nichols’ new Aulac home has an excellent bog on the property. Louise was able to visit it on Friday, and found several of the bog plants Brian Stone shared yesterday from Twin Oaks bog, such as LABRADOR-TEA [Thé du Labrador], THREE-LEAVED SOLOMON'S SEAL [Smilacine trifolée], and BOG LAUREL [Kalmia à feuilles d'Andromède]. However, Louise was also able to find the ornate flowering BOG BUCKBEAN [Herbe à canards] at its best, as well as WHITE COTTON-GRASS [Linaigrette à feuilles étroites] and suspected TAWNY COTTON-GRASS [Linaigrette de Virginie]. We needed Jim Goltz’s confirmation on the Chokeberry [Aronia], and he suspected the Cotton-grass to be Tawny Cotton-grass just developing. Louise got photos of several Dragonflies [Libellule] and will work on identification.

Great to hear the NELSON’S SPARROWS are back and singing to establish territories. On Thursday morning, Dave Christie heard his FOY Nelson’s Sparrow singing as he walked the Mary’s Point trail to the beach and spoke to Denis Doucet who was there earlier who heard 4 individuals singing. Rick Elliott reported he had been seeing them at Waterside Marsh and heard his first ones singing on Thursday morning as well. On Friday, when Dave walked Mary’s Point trail to the beach, he heard 4 Nelson’s Sparrows singing so there arrival was sudden and promptly on territory. The vocalization of this sparrow sounds like a drop of fat being dropped into a hot pan but carries surprisingly well. This sparrow’s unique lifestyle to adapt to an occasional flooding salt marsh and still use that habitat to nest is amazingly tactful and learned behavior. Take a moment to learn their vocalization if unfamiliar with it to recognize it when around a salt marsh.

David Lilly got a great photo of a male YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER using its stiff tail feathers as the normal woodpecker prop as it forages. The female is similar except it lacks the red throat patch.

**I put out black boot mats to attract snakes to warm under. They attract RED-BELLIED SNAKES [Couleuvre à ventre rouge] mostly, with the occasional GARTER SNAKE [Couleuvre rayée] and GRASS SNAKE [Couleuvre verte]. They are usually there by the long weekend in May, which is the first destination when the grand-kids arrive. This year they were not present on the long weekend, and I have been checking most days and did not see any until Friday, when both brown and dark morph Red-bellied Snakes appeared. They were fairly sluggish, so they must have just roused. The cold spring must have delayed their emergence.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton