Nature Moncton Nature News: Aug 18 2020

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, August 18, 2020 (Tuesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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

** Marguerite Winsor sends two beautiful photos of a freshly emerged female and male MONARCH BUTTERFLY [Monarque]. Out of 16 chrysalids, 13 have hatched so far and the last 3 will probably be gone by Wednesday. Marguerite comments it's always a fun project and this year she was able to witness the last Monarch caterpillar with the amazing transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis. She was keeping an eye on this last caterpillar and just happened to notice that the J-shape had changed to a straight line and it happened. It split from the bottom and it was pretty well done in maybe twenty seconds. Amazing!

** Burnt over areas create habitat for certain species. Mike Plourde went to the Cains River via the Rogersville Pleasant Ridge Rd. on Sunday to come across a burned over area from June of 2020. He was interested to find many WOODPECKERS including 1 female and 2 male BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS [Pic à dos noir]. He got no photos but leaves the location on Google Map Photo link below if someone is interested in checking it out. Also, lots of PALM WARBLER [Paruline à couronne rousse] and 3 BLACK BEARS [Ours noir] in separate sightings. He did not bother them and they did not bother him!

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.591212,-65.7169204,551m/data=!3m1!1e3

** Carol Shea had a BOBCAT [Lynx roux] come into her Upham yard appearing to be hunting SQUIRRELS [Ecureuil] that were in the area. It appears quite thin and appears to need something more substantial than a squirrel. It was very likely hunger that brought the animal to the yard during the day. Carol was able to get a few photos of its mission that was not successful.

Georges Brun paid a visit to Bis Marsh Monday evening to find no water in pond area. From spring to now down a little more than 30 cm or approximately 1 foot. Someone walked a distance on the dried surface and left footprints approximately 4 to 5 cm. Even with the rain Monday morning there was insignificant inroads to start the filling process. This leaves this productive marsh site not attractive to shorebirds and water fowl.

** Yvette Richard got a photo of a RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD [Colibri à gorge rubis] in a swordfight with uninvited nectar-seeking insects to her hummingbird feeder. It can be a problem at this time of year.

Yvette also got a Great Blue Heron with a bit of a ‘punky’ look at the Sackville Waterfowl Park

** Still more LITTLE BLUE HERON [Aigrette bleue] juvenile photos to enjoy. Brian Stone found them at the Sackville Waterfowl Park on Sunday. They seemed to be foraging mainly on FROGS as other observers have noted. One heron was in a tree but at a distance. There was also a DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT [Cormoran à aigrettes] using a swallow nest box as a perch there, and two DRAGONFLY species, the COMMON WHITETAIL DRAGONFLY [libellule lydienne] and the VARIABLE DARNER DRAGONFLY [æschne domino].

** It’s a great time of year to observe some of the larger female spiders that can be quite colourful this time of year. I came across a CROSS SPIDER [épeire diadème] in St. Martin's recently. It was not particularly impressed with being photographed.

** The CHAGA MUSHROOM is not a particularly attractive mushroom as it appears as a black, rough, canker-type of growth on usually YELLOW or WHITE BIRCH. It has become very popular as a medicine, making a tea-type of drink from it. The ground powder sells for surprising prices at the moment. It is used very extensively in Russia and Balkan countries. If the outer black is peeled back a light-brown interior is exposed, as the photo shows. This is what is often ground up in a coffee grinder to prepare the drink. The black outside contains rather bitter turpins, however some literature suggests this may be the greater concentration of the medicine that it’s used for. There has been little controlled medical research in North America to prove its value as a medicine. I came across one on Friday and was a bit surprised to see it. It gets gathered very quickly in easily accessible areas.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton