NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 7, 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)
** Pat Fox
is having a dark pelaged quite different chipmunk as a regular patron to their
Upper Coverdale home and got 3 photo views. It would appear to have a
melanistic factor in its DNA makeup. Pat comments that she has never seen a
chipmunk of this coloration before and I don't recall ever getting any similar
photos to the Nature Moncton Information Line, so I am assuming this must be
rare. There sure is no problem keeping track of this individual among its kin.
Reports of melanistic EASTERN CHIPMUNKS [Suisse] in the literature show them as more completely
near black, so use of the term melanistic factor may well be subject to
correction. Independent of what is really going on, it is indeed different!
** Chris Antle uncovered a YELLOW-SPOTTED SALAMANDER [Salamandre maculée]
while
clearing up some old wood, which was then left undisturbed after a quick photo.
Also, Chris was hoping to report many MONARCH BUTTERFLIES [Monarque] by this
time in her MILKWEED meadow, as it is very ready for visitors. Chris thought she saw a worn Monarch Butterfly
on July 1st, but that has been the only one she suspected.
** Gordon Rattray reports the RED LILY BEETLE he
sent a photo of yesterday, led him to check some nearby LILIES to find they
were targeted and found adults which were dispatched and larvae munching the
foliage. Gordon had an experience with them before and found a detergent
treatment daily kept them at bay. The recipe he uses is one teaspoon of baking
soda and one teaspoon of dish detergent in a litre of water for spraying the
plants. The munching larvae got the spray treatment after one was photographed,
and seemed to clean up the infestation quickly but will get sprayed daily. The
adult Red Lily Beetle photo is reattached. Gordon also sends a few plants
blooming at the moment: the BROAD-LEAFED ARROWHEAD, and HEDGE BINDWEED, which
resembles cultivated MORNING GLORY.
** Aldo Dorio got a photo of a SKIPPER on July
5th which needed Jim Edsall's confirmation on, which he confirmed as a DUN
SKIPPER [Hespérie rurale] with a photo attached today.
**Lois
Budd shares photos from Monday morning and a couple of nights ago.
She has a Raccoon who likes to climb a dead Elm tree, sit on a wire
cage which is open right now as it is a winter beef fat feeder for the
woodpeckers. It makes a delightful summer seat for a coon enjoying cake
suet.
Lois
also put a large cuttlebone out last winter and left it there for the
summer. It gets enjoyed by the Pileated Woodpecker in winter but
first time I have seen anything enjoying this summer and it seems this young
Hairy Woodpecker is finding it quite to his liking. (Editor's note - cuttlebone
is from the skeleton of a cephalopods, such as squids and octopuses that is sold in pet stores and used for domestic
caged birds as a calcium source and to keep beaks sharpened and worn. An
interesting addition to a bird feeder yard!)
Brian
Donovan is an avid trail camera user in Miramichi and gets some incredible
photos. One trail camera he especially likes is the Apeman model that Brian
points out is on special at the moment and sends the link below. I got one of
these units on Brian's advice and experience and find it works well after
learning how to use it properly which is the case for any camera. Thank you
Brian for the alert.
Brian
Stone just heard about a comet, Comet NEOWISE, two days ago and thought
he would give it a very early Tuesday morning at dawn and see if the
clouds would give him a break. And did they ever! Very low on the
horizon, to the left of bright Venus, was this wonderful comet that is the
best comet that he has seen in a long time, 7 years or more. He could just
barely make it out with the naked eye it was that good. The camera picked it up
even better, but a good dslr would have done a much better job even.
Brian
shares several views of it, from wide angle to full zoom.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
