NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, July 28, 2021 (Wednesday)
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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)
**Fred
Richards reports the Tuesday night group met for a look and walk at Johnson’s
Mills. There were only a few sandpipers (about 200 in the largest group)
which seems like there should have been more by this time. They
observed a PEREGRINE FALCON take a small bird on the mud flats and stop
on a rock to dine before a Bald Eagle made it nervous and it moved on. They
then walked down the old road and returned on the new road. They observed a
porcupine or two and some birds were voicing their presence but were hesitant with showing themselves. They heard some crossbills and saw a Black- Throated
Green Warbler. Lots of flora in prime foliage most likely due to the abundant
rainfall this summer. It was a most enjoyable walk.
** Aldo Dorio photographed a BLACK SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY at Hay
Island on Tuesday. It appears quite fresh except for one of the long tails
being damaged. The extra yellow cell (arrow) shows well to help eliminate the
Short-tailed Swallowtail Butterfly along with the longer tail and the nearby
yellow spot shorter than the tail. Aldo also photographed a suspected immature PALM
WARBLER.
ALDO did have to leave his home on
Wednesday morning to look out his window for a nice photo of a CHESTNUT-SIDED
WARBLER posing still showing natal down, its voyage into the outside world just
getting underway.
** Brian Stone checked out the Hampton
lagoons on Tuesday while visiting family at Upham. He was hoping to get some
good shots of the GREEN HERON
frequenting the pond at the front of the lagoons but had to be satisfied with a
few long distant shots and one taken through a thick stand of cattails that
needed heroic adjusting to show any detail. He plans on trying again before he
leaves for home later in the week. While there he managed to photograph a TURKEY VULTURE flying overhead, a male NORTHERN CARDINAL calling loudly and
continuously from the top of a tall spruce tree, a GREAT BLUE HERON, a female AMERICAN
REDSTART, and an AMERICAN LADY
BUTTERFLY nectaring. A few more images from the area will likely follow
over the next few days.
** The strikingly marked GREAT TIGER MOTH posed for images at my
moth light on Monday night. It has been cool for visiting moths in recent
nights so this mid to large sized brightly marked orange, black and red moth
added some welcome colour. Even the body, which the photo covers, is bright
red. It cooperated slightly to flash the bold, black-spotted orange underwing.
I have had an AMERICAN KESTREL
nest box erected for several years adjacent some open fields near our Miramichi
camp. It has been occupied every year but find it odd that I have yet to even
seen a kestrel at any other site in the area. The occupants have always been
very wary, and Mama allowed a distant photo as she surveyed her territory
recently. Traffic can pass by seemingly unnoticed, but the moment you slow down
or stop, they move a distance away. No nestlings have appeared yet, but the box
has never showed any nestlings poking out until August even thought they seem
to arrive early and get an early start.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
