NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 13, 2021 (Tuesday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by Susan Richards susan_richards@rogers.com
Info Line #: 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
**The regular Nature Moncton Tuesday night outing is
happening tonight, Tuesday at 6:30 to Humphrey Brook trail wit details attached
below:
Nature Moncton
Tuesday Evening Walk July 13, 2021
The Humphreys Brook
Trail
Time: Walk will start
at 6:30PM. If you could arrive earlier around 6:15 so we can cover Covid rules.
The cost is free for members and children. Non-members $2.00.
Meeting Place:
Harrisville Blvd. Entrance of the Humphreys Brook Trail
Directions: Via East
Bound Trans Canada Hwy, take Exit 462, Caledonia Industrial Park. Turn right at
the stop sign on to Harrisville Blvd and go .6 km. Trail head entrance is on
the right. No parking lot, so park on the widened gravel shoulder. Via West
Bound TCH, take Exit 462, Caledonia Industrial Park. Turn left at the stop sign
on to Harrisville Blvd. Go .8 km to trail entrance on the right and park on the
shoulder of the road. Via Shediac Rd., go 1.1 km East from Stirling Apples and
turn left at the traffic lights on to Harrisville Blvd. Go .7km to the trail
entrance which is on the left. You can park on either side of the road.
Careful, traffic can be heavy.
This is part of the
Humphreys Brook Trail which is 5.7km long. Time permitting, we will do
approximately the first 2km and then walk back to our vehicles. This is an
easy, wide, level, well-groomed trail that I even saw a gentleman with an
electric wheelchair use. At the beginning there is a small beaver dam,
man-made lake with waterfowl and green frogs, (I heard many calling the other
morning), evident. There is lots of wooded area and plants following along the
brook and depending on the time of day many birds can be seen or heard. There
can be mosquitos and pesky insects so plan accordingly. I am excited to introduce
you to this trail which was originally and still is a sewage trunk connecting
to the wastewater treatment facility in Riverview.
Looking forward to
being your leader
Lynda Leclerc
**Louise Nichols took a walk Monday morning on the Tidnish Trail in Baie Vert. It was a very nice walk with lots to be seen and heard and a million mosquitos that were very happy Louise left the bug spray in the car! She saw/heard 27 bird species among which were a GREY CATBIRD, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and EASTERN WOOD PEWEE. The 2 OSREY were on the nest along the trail on top of the human-built platform and very agitated by her presence.
Many
butterfly species were also in flight including some SKIPPER species,
MOURNING CLOAK, WHITE ADMIRAL, NORTHERN PEARLY EYE and GREAT SPANGLED
FRITILLARY.
**Pinesap is
an uncommonly encountered plant but when found under pine or fir, usually has
several plants with it. It has some
similarities and appearance to INDIAN PIPE but is a very different
plant. It grows 4 to 12 inches high with
a bowing top until it matures to become straight up.
Lori
Bateman photographed some specimens on Monday, and she comments, she is seeing
more Pinesap than Indian Pipe in the woods this year. Pinesap is always a nice find.
**The
CALICO PENNANT DRAGONFLY is one not often seen in New Brunswick, however
Jane LeBlanc has a special spot at a lake called Henry Lake just inland a bit
from St. Martins where she reliably
finds them, and did that on Monday. She
usually is only able to photograph them when canoeing the lake, but on Monday
was able to get steadier photos of this striking ode from the lake edge.
**Gordon
Rattray got some photos of a few frogs at the Chance Harbour Botany Field trip
on Saturday, the colour of which what we felt to be a GREEN FROG led to
a consult opinion from Ron Arsenault who is very helpful. Ron comments, the presence of the dorsal
lateral ridge going down the back and transverse bars across the legs point to
a Green Frog even though it has rather unusual colouring however, the species
is highly variable. Do an internet
search using images and you will see how variable this species can be. Ron did just that and found some individuals
that looked quite close to the one in Gordon’s picture. NOTE:
if you do a search use the scientific name as simply using green frog
will include the other species (frogs that are coloured green or species from
other continents that also have ‘green’ in the common name such as the
Australian Green Frog) using both scientific names LITHOBATES CLAMITANS AND
RANA CLAMITANS will result in lots of pictures.
In
Gordon’s second photo the dorsal lateral ridge going around the tympanum with
none whatsoever going down the back along with the lack of transverse bars on
the hind legs point to BULLFROG rather than Green Frog.
Thank
you, Ron for your helpful comments.
**Maureen
Girvan got a photo which aired on yesterday’s edition of a BALD EAGLE
with prey in its talons that leaves some uncertainty as to what it is. Several offered thoughts/opinions but the
most frequent by far was domestic cat.
This may or may not have been roadkill but is due warning to keep
domestic cats indoors for their protection.
There have been many reports of finding collars of cats and small dogs
in Bald Eagle nests. There is also so
many pathogens that cats, allowed to roam freely, can pick up. Scroll down to yesterday’s edition to review
Maureen’s photos.
**Fred
Dube got some photos of a pair of WHITE -BREASTED NUTHATCH that nest
yearly at their summer spot in Pictou Nova Scotia. Fred’s photo shows the species in one of
their favourite habitats of large old tree trunks with large cracks to probe
for insects and grubs. A pleasant photo
of an EASTERN CHIPMUNK at the eye of the camera.
We
are simply not used to seeing peaches growing large and delicious in New
Brunswick.
Fred
and Lynn Dube have a peach tree in their yard ladened with rapidly enlarging
fruit that will be sweet and delicious in August. Hopefully, a Tuesday night Nature Moncton
outing will get an invite to drop by and help the Dube’s enjoy the fruits of
their labours!
Fred
also photographed several moths including the BLINDED SPHINX MOTH just
barely showing its eye spot in one photo, the EASTERN TENT CATERPILLAR MOTH that
we have been seeing the tents of the larval caterpillars earlier in the season,
AMERICAN IDIA MOTH, and the common introduced LARGE YELLOW UNDERWING
MOTH that is much more identifiable when it shows the bright yellow black
barred underwing.
**We
have had a pair of BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES nesting a few feet from our
front picture window. It has been very
entertaining to watch the doting parents so busy taking care of
fledglings. The first nestlings started
poking heads out on Sunday and Monday morning all was quiet. They had fledged early Monday morning. I opened the box to show the typical nest of
a Black-Capped Chickadee with a thick base of moss and a cup of soft material
in the centre and in this case, dog hair left in the suet feeder. I had put some shavings at the bottom of the
box but suspect that the chickadees were only interested in covering them up.
I also had the opportunity to be at David and
Anita Cannon’s yard on Monday afternoon and pleasantly surprised to see a BEECH
TREE loaded with beech nuts and bark fairly smooth showing little effect
from Beech Canker. Also, YELLOW BIRCH
was showing the large mature seed catkin as photographed.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
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