Nature Moncton Nature News: July 14 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 14, 2020 (Tuesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: david.cannon@rogers.com

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

** Some very exciting news from Suzanne Rousseau in Sussex. Suzanne had her first MONARCH BUTTERFLY [Monarque] arrive to her Sussex yard SWAMP MILKWEED and actively ovipositing. It first arrived on Sunday and returned on Monday, with photos attached.

Jim Wilson and Rheal Vienneau’s comments of yesterday seem to be coming of fruition.

** Louise Nichols had an AMERICAN REDSTART [Paruline flamboyante] nest in a maple tree in front of their deck. She noticed the female building the nest a few weeks ago. Louise attaches one photo of the female at the nest with several heads peeking out. The photo is blurred as the nest was behind many branches. On Monday the nest was empty and Luka, her dog, discovered one fledgling on the grass close to the tree but she was very gentle. Louise watched the fledgling for some time (after calling the dog away) as it continued calling and then hopped/flew over to a cedar tree where it found some shelter and where Louise saw the mother bird return to it. Louise comments it must be easy to see why some people would be tempted to "rescue" a fledgling that is on the ground. The bird was alone and calling for a good 10-20 minutes before the parent bird returned, but she did return.

Louise also attaches photos of a RAGGED FRINGED ORCHID that they discovered the first time last year growing near Glen's vegetable garden. It's back again at the same spot; two stalks this year instead of just one and very striking. An orchid choosing a yard is always a value added bonus.

** Gordon Rattray shares several plant in bloom photos including ROUGH CINQUEFOIL, FLEABANE, ST. JOHN'S WORT, and VALERIAN as well as the interesting saprophytic plant INDIAN PIPE. This interesting plant is sometimes called Forest Nuns. It produces no chlorophyll, hence white, feeding on fungi and decaying plant material growing in dark areas. Gordon mentions about the invasiveness of Valerian, and if folks want to stop its invading habits, it's best to cut it out now before it goes to seed. It emits a sweet odour and also contains diazepam, a dug used in human medicine.

Gordon also got photos of a Bullfrog and a Leopard Frog treading water soaking up the sun.

**Krista Doyle got a nice photo of a WHITE ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY. They are flying at the moment abundantly with this one enjoying the nectar of Common Milkweed blooms. There would appear to be a Tricolored Bumblebee looking on.

** Aldo Dorio got a photo of BOBOLINKS [Goglu des prés] in the same cedar tree at Wishart Point. The adult male is distinctive while other photos may be fledglings or female. Aldo also spotted more shorebirds arriving in the Hay Island ponds on Monday at noon. The group was predominantly YELLOWLEGS [Chevalier] and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS [Bécassin roux]. The advance guard is definitely moving down.

** Brian Stone got some very interesting bee photos a few days ago that possibly many of us have not seen, but with their long antennae and coarse hairy appendages and abdomen make them immediately recognizable. The THREE-KNOTTED LONGHORN BEE makes its first appearance on the Blogspot photo line-up.

Brian also photographed an aspen leaf recently showing white lines on it. Doug Hiltz at the Maritime School of Forest Technology offers an explanation and will paraphrase Doug’s response below

“The first couple of photos you have there are indeed leaf miners. As with

 most types of insects there are many different species of miners. In fact,

 leaf miners can be the larval stages of many different orders of insect,

 many being caterpillars of moths and butterflies. Some species “mine” out

 entire section of leaves at one time while others tunnel around eating

 as they go leaving the nest looking patterns as seen in the photos. This is

 typical of aspen leaf miners and it is indeed trembling aspen being fed

 upon in the photos.”

**Ewan Dobson has a passion for hand-feeding wild birds and has compiled 2 years of select footage and made it into a 7 hour video. It has 22 chapters, each featuring a specific bird of the 22 that have landed to his hand. He has also finished a short ebook documenting his experience and story which will be available soon.

Ewan doesn’t think anything like this has been done before and feels that many will find it inspirational as he has preparing it. Ewan’s effort can be tuned into at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aA1XJloUpQ&feature=youtu.be

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton