Nature Moncton Nature News: July 21 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 21, 2020 (Tuesday)

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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)

** It looks like Richard Blacquiere has solved the mystery of the Gull that Georges Brun photographed with enough evidence to call it ORAL FISTULA. Check out the 2 sites below that Richard has found and translation of the pages is an option. It was excellent sleuthing by Richard Blacquiere. I am reattaching the photos as it looks like Georges has documented a very unusual scenario.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/ornithology/0ral-fistula-project.aspx

http://gaviotasyanillas.blogspot.com/2015/11/fistulas-sublinguales.html?m=1

** Chris Antle reports that there is a good number of munching MONARCH BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS [Monarque] at her Maquapit Lake Common Milkweed meadow. Chris sends a picture of one that appears to be of a good size and content. I personally have not yet had one Monarch Butterfly show up at my yard Common or Swamp Milkweed patches, and Brian Stone comments that he has yet to see any Monarch Butterfly activity at the 2 large patches near and on the Gorge Rd.

** Aldo Dorio photographed a few moths on Monday. One of them is the CONFUSED HAPLOA MOTH that is quite similar to the other Haploa we have, the LeConte's Haploa. Another is a worn BLINDED SPHINX MOTH and a third is the smaller EASTERN TENT CATERPILLAR MOTH.

** We noted a structure on one of the waterways on the Nature Moncton field trip to the White Birch Ducks Unlimited Impoundment on Saturday and not knowing what it was. Adam Campbell, from Ducks Unlimited, gives a nice explanation of it and more information about the site. I am quoting Adam’s explanatory comments below. Adam also sent a photo of what the Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler looks like out of the water.

Quoting Adam

“You were visiting a site that we just completed a manage

 drawdown on.  The site was overrun by water-shield and only

 contained a very few species of emergent plants.   We dewatered

 the site and left it relatively dry for two seasons with the

 intention of increasing the biodiversity there and the overall

 productivity.  Initially monitoring suggests that we have been

 successful in accomplishing both.

The structure we used there is a common one that we use to manage intended water levels while minimizing beaver activity impacts. It is called a Clemson Beaver Leveler (sometime baffler) and was invented by a Clemson University professor. I have attached a picture of one before it was installed to make it obvious how it functions. The numerous holes allow for low water flow that is undetectable by the beavers. The cage keeps junk from floating up to and plugging the holes. We place it out a good ways from the berm and the beavers tend to leave them alone. They work for small watersheds only since they only have the capacity of an 8" pipe. The vertical tail pipe determines the water level. We can cut it down or raise up as desired.”

Brian Stone made a short, early evening trip to Wilson (Bell) Marsh on Monday to find it quieter than usual, maybe due to the later hour. On the way in he noticed a small nest that was reported from other sources to have recently held a group of newly hatched American Redstart chicks to be empty, indicating that some other denzin of the marsh likely made them its prey. A duck with a single duckling in tow might reflect a similar scenario. Many BULLFROGS [Ouaouaron] were just beginning their nightly chorus. Some interesting cloud formations were deemed worthy of a photograph on the way out of the marsh.

Earlier in the day Brian took time out from an errand to photograph the pair of PEREGRINE FALCONS [Faucon pelerine] at the Assomption Bldg in downtown Moncton. One appeared to be eating something.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton