Nature Moncton Nature News: August 27 2019

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, August 27, 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)

** If you are a MONARCH BUTTERFLY [Monarque] caterpillar and want to put your chrysalis in a safe place then why not an imitation eagle. Jane Aikman’s sister, Sherrill Owen, has had this happen with her yard eagle statue in Gatineau, Quebec. She calls them “Monicle and Goatee”. Get ready for that dramatic photo when they turn black and you can see the wing pattern through the shell just before the adult emerges! Sherrill comments that the milkweed is all around the base of the statue and there are more caterpillars on the milkweed. Lots of time for them to complete development for an inaugural flight to Mexico in September.

** Leon Gagnon shares a few photos that he recently got on Miscou Island. A CAPE MAY WARBLER [Paruline tigrée] was feeding on fresh looking, juicy Serviceberries. It seems very late for this fruit to still be so fleshy. Maybe the cool spring had something to do with it or maybe some varieties might mature later. Leon also got a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH WARBLER [Paruline des ruisseaux] photo as well as an amusing photo of a GREATER YELLOWLEGS [Grand Chevalier] grooming its long bill.

** Brian Coyle sends 4 nice photos of a NASHVILLE WARBLER [Paruline à joues grises] as it appears in August that made us both take second looks until Gilles Belliveau confirmed that the combination of olive back, gray head, yellow throat and white eye ring makes the ID. Gilles points out that the white side tail feathers are due to the spread tail feathers and light passing through them in the photograph to make them look white and fool the identification.

** Aldo Dorio sends photos of a BONAPARTE'S GULL [Mouette de Bonaparte] going into first winter plumage as well as a RING-BILLED GULL [Goéland à bec cerclé] that appears to be going into first winter plumage also.

** A few items I came across at Hay Island on Monday. I noted a small, tight mass of small, dark insects in the stem of a Scotch Lovage plant with ants going and coming from it. I am assuming the small insects to be aphids and the ants can be seen in the photo hovering them in a behavior called “ant farming”. Also I am including a COMMON WOOD-NYMPH BUTTERFLY [Satyre des prés] to again show the variation in this species. I noticed that some Samphire Greens had already taken on the bright red colouration of late maturity while others were still a mint green. A LEAST SANDPIPER [Bécasseau minuscule] briefly posed to show its warm, brown tones, yellow legs and slight droop to the bill.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton