Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 12 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Aug 12, 2020 (WEDNESDAY)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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**Dale Gaskin leaves some nice reports. He was pleased to have an Eastern Phoebe visit on Monday morning to his Dawson Settlement yard. Dale drove to Sackville on Monday and was amazed at the cloud formation he noted on the left side of the road, the cloudscape was complete looking like hung up marshmallows but on the right side of the road, the sky was absolutely cloudless. A spectacular sight.

Dale visited Johnson’s Mills on Monday with quite a wind coming on shore and did not see any shorebirds. The Johnson’s Mills area is normally loaded with Mountain Ash in full fruit by now. This year he noted the trees almost devoid of fruit. Dale comments the Mountain Ash tree in his own yard is normally looking like a Christmas tree with berries by this time but this year only a few clusters of berries are present.

**Daryl Doucet got a photo of a juvenile Blue Jay molting into its adult plumage tending to have a near bald straggly looking head area. Those pin feathers will soon burst out to produce the striking blue crest and take its place with its strikingly plumaged kin.

**Anna Tucker and some of her family visited Johnson’s Mills and area on Sunday. They saw a few shorebirds but missed the main activity after a Peregrine Falcon had lifted the roosting group. Anna took note of the Goldenrod now coming into its strong bloom, Fireweed moving into the mid to late bloom, a few Lupines still blooming, and Pearly Everlasting at peak bloom. Pearly everlasting has male and female plants and if gathered at prime bloom and left in a vase to dry, will retain its blooms.

**We are starting to see the ragged tents of the Fall Webworm. They seem to especially enjoy Alder due to its high nitrogen content. The earlier Eastern Tent Caterpillar and Ugly Nest caterpillar seem to have completed their cycle. The Fall Webworm is recognized by its less enveloping that the plant style of tent nest and the caterpillars showing more hairs (setae) and darker than the ugly nest caterpillars that tend to be yellow bodied with black heads.

**My first Monarch Butterfly caterpillars have gone to the chrysalis stage. A photo is attached. It appears slightly misshapen but I’m suspecting it will complete its mission and an adult butterfly will emerge to be released in approximately 10 days to begin its journey to Mexico.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton