NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 16, 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)
** Krista Doyle photographed a pair of SWAMP
MILKWEED BEETLES [Scarabée asclépiade] exchanging genetic material a yard
COMMON MILKWEED [Asclépiade commune] plant. The colour of the two differs in Krista’s
photo but literature indicates that their patterns are highly variable. They
favor Swamp Milkweed as their host but will go to Common Milkweed as well. It
is interesting how some critters adapt to foraging on milkweed and be so
brightly coloured to warn predators of how bad they taste.
** Anne Sherrard spotted a pair of
OCELLATED DARNERS in a mating wheel on an outdoor light fixture on her deck
overlooking the Little Southwest Miramichi River. Lots of yellow spotting and
note the 2 roundish yellow spots on the thorax.
** Anna Tucker came across an odd pair
in Saint-Antoine recently. One is a male MUSCOVY DUCK which is always domestic
and the other is what appears to be a young TURKEY POULT, obviously domestic as
well. Our consulter on domestic ducks, Ron Arsenault, helped to provide
comments.
** Aldo Dorio has had his Neguac yard EASTERN
BLUEBIRD [Merlebleu de l'Est] family now fledging. He photographed one of them
with a ripe blueberry in its mouth, assumedly brought to it by a parent. It
looks like insects are not the only item on the fledgling’s menu.
** Brian Stone had ordered a Brine
Shrimp Hatchery kit for his YELLOW-SPOTTED SALAMANDER [Salamandre maculée]
larvae but due to Covid delays it arrived 5 weeks late and he felt that it was
too late for his now quite large (4 cm.) 53 day old patron to be interested in
as the newly hatched Brine Shrimp are so tiny which would have been perfect for
those larvae that were just hatched out of the egg. He offered the Brine Shrimp
anyway to the salamander he has left and it became ecstatic and it ate most of
them over a few hours to show in a photograph its very full tummy with a slight
orange tint reflecting the colour of the young shrimp.
Brian was in the Cocagne area on
Wednesday and photographed a very wind-tossed GREAT BLUE HERON [Grand Héron]
with plumes flying in all directions.
Brian also mentions that Comet NEOWISE
(C/2020 F3) is now clearly visible in the north/west sky, below the Big Dipper
and close to the horizon in the evening after sunset. It is very visible at the
moment but will fade as the month goes on and after its closest approach to
Earth on July 22nd it will fade faster as it moves away from us. A
chart is attached below with positions plotted for each day until its closest approach. Brian comments
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
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