NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, August 22, 2021 (Sunday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** Leon Gagnon got a photo of an adult PIPING
PLOVER with a young-of-the-year on the large dune south of Wilson Point on
Miscou on Friday. Nice to see a young of
this species at this age. We just don’t
get Piping Plover photos very often, especially with a youngster.
Leon also had a visit from a female MONARCH
BUTTERFLY to his Wilson Point yard on August 16th. This fresh-looking adult is very apt to be
filing flight plans to Mexico at this point.
He also came across a recently fledged bird in
a rather unsafe hiding place, an ATV.
** It’s that time of the year when
caterpillars tend to be more abundant with some very colourful. Rosita Lanteigne got a nice photo of the WHITE-MARKED
TUSSUCK MOTH CATERPILLAR that nicely shows its colourful markings and
tufts.
** On Aug.
18, Rosita reported locating a BAIRD’S SANDPIPER along with Michel
Chaisson. Corinne DeGrace was able to get a documentary photo. This is another
sandpiper we do not get photos of as it is relatively uncommon.
Gart Bishop pulled this little fellow (photo attached)
out of his hair, and for a moment thought it was a tick at first.
INaturalist suggested it to be STRAWBERRY ROOT WEEVIL (Otiorhynchus
ovatus), which fits the description on BugGuide. This little fellow (.6
cm) is a native to Eurasia and considered invasive in North America. The
larvae feed on the roots of strawberry, blueberry, raspberry and hemlock and
eastern white cedar. Adults feed nocturnally on foliage and cannot fly.
There are no males and reproduction is asexual through a process called
parthenogenesis. This means that female adults can reproduce without the need
for a male. In fact, no male specimen has ever been observed in this species.
**Last
night Brian Stone got a photo of the full MOON with the planet JUPITER
nearby. When there are 4 full Moons in a season (this time it's summer) the 3rd
one is called a Blue Moon. This is an older, more traditional meaning of the
name while recently it has come to mean the second full Moon in a single month.
So traditionally this is a Blue Moon. The August full Moon has several other
names such as the Sturgeon Moon and others if you look into it deep enough.
**It was
pleasant to watch several LEAST SANDPIPERS enjoying the freshly exposed ‘yummy
mud’ critters at a smaller stream near Waterside on Saturday.
** A heads-up on this coming Tuesday,
August 24th Nature Moncton outing which will be a meander of the
Mill Creek Nature Park Trail in Riverview.
Meet at 6:30 PM at the top of Runnymede Rd. Runnymede Rd. is off Hillsborough Rd., the
second street after the Petro-Can station across from Point Park subdivision. This week’s outing will be led by Wendy
Sullivan.
** Another heads-up to slot off
Saturday Sept. 4th for a group visit to that popular shorebird site
Petit-Cap. All are welcome. The write-up is attached below.
The
shorebirds are coming! The shorebirds are coming!
Date:
Saturday, Sept. 4th, 2021 (rain date – Sunday Sept. 5th)
Place:
Petit-Cap (see specific meeting places below in description)
Time:
12:30 PM to start at Petit-Cap
Guide: Roger Leblanc
Well actually, the shorebirds have already been
here for some time now. But they will still be building in numbers and
diversity for a while so there is still time to take in the show. And even if you have a chance of seeing shorebirds
pretty well anywhere water meets land, there are some very special places where
your chances are not only better to see large numbers but also a diversity of
species. One of the best spots in recent
years has been the Petit Cap Dune and more precisely the lagoon it protects. At
low tide the exposed flats become an “all you can eat” banquet for shorebirds
as well as other sea birds. So Nature Moncton is offering an outing to that
spot. For viewing shorebirds, tides are
of the essence, so the following date and time frame is very important. The
date will be September 4th (with Sunday the 5th as a rain
date) and the outing will start at 12:30 PM from the rough parking lot at
the start of the dune. If you know the spot you can join us there. For
those who might want to car pool or just prefer to follow our guide Roger
Leblanc you can meet him in the parking lot of Champlain Place, just behind
the Burger King at around 11:30 am. We will be leaving at 11:45 SHARP so
don’t be late. If coming from between the city and the coast or closer, you
could also join the group at 12:15 in Shemogue at the junction of routes 15 and
950. We will regroup in the parking
lot of the restaurant there. Then we will drive the 5 minutes or so to the
beach and do an easy hike on it to the point where you can access the mud flats
behind the dune. Birds can be expected on the beach but should also mostly be
feeding on the mud flats that will be exposed by low tide at that time. Once
there, you might want to walk in a bit of water to get closer to the show so
bring appropriate footwear or just be ready to go shoeless. Roger will help us
find and ID the shorebirds (as well as the many other feathered friends hanging
around). He will also share with us his knowledge of the great migration
phenomenon that will hopefully be unfolding right before our eyes. Hope to see
you there.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
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