Nature Moncton Nature News: June 25 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, June 25, 2020 (Thursday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com

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

** Mac Wilmot comments that the 2 GREAT HORNED OWLETS [Grand-duc d'Amérique] have been flying for 3 weeks or more. Their flying skills are just so-so but landing skills less so. They apparently spend a lot of time on the ground at night because their running abilities are impressive, they didn’t learn that on a tree limb. They don’t run like a pheasant, that is to say; left, right. Left, right, but it is a skipping gait, kind of a 2 legged gallop. The Wilmots are very richly entertained!

This is all normal for the Great Horned Owl young that take up to 3 weeks to hone their flying skills but become very skillful on the ground and climbing.

The photo of the gangly teenager is reattached today.

** Gordon Rattray made a run along the Albert Mines Rd. and checked out a roadside bog at Waterside on Wednesday. He watched a doe WHITE-TAILED DEER [Cerf de Virginie] interacting with a fawn to zoom in to watch the doe attending to what appears to be a very young fawn, possibly even one recently born. The mother is licking and keeping close watch over its activity.

On the bog he found some plants expected not in bloom yet while others were. BULLHEAD LILY was showing its intricate blooms, COMMON SPEEDWELL was blooming (note the one smaller petal of the four, typical of the speedwell species), CREEPING SNOWBERRY which produces a white berry sparsely that has a pleasant wintergreen flavour, and THREE-LEAVED SOLOMON’S SEAL that likes to have its feet wet.

He noted the CLIFF SWALLOW [Hirondelle à front blanc] nests under the bridge beside Riverside-Albert have mostly fledged with only a few nests still being tended. Gordon also photographed the WHITE-SPOTTED SABLE MOTH. We have several moths of black ground colour with white spotting or streaks that can be seen day flying and are easy to mistake as a butterfly. They are relatively small in size but still very noticeable. Note the yellow on the side of the thorax to help with the identity of this one. Jim Edsall confirmed the identification.

**The striking YELLOW IRIS is an introduced plant to North America as a cultivar that is spreading into the wild. I am noticing it in significant numbers in wet areas such as ditches, bogs, and other wet spots that our native Blue Flag likes to grow as well. I get the impression it is out-competing it. Am attaching a few photos from Wednesday in Albert Co. It seems to be just past its peak bloom. Blue Flag was present but seemed to be crowded to the side.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton