NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, August 05, 2021 (Thursday)
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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)
** Many many photos have come in from the Nature Moncton Tuesday night outing to Irishtown Nature Park. Gordon Rattray and Brian Stone took photos of the many interesting mushrooms encountered which will appear in the photo section with identifications, or at least tentative ones. Lots of plants in the berry stage were photographed as well as some in bloom.
A family of SPOTTED
SANDPIPERS was encountered that very nicely shows both the adult and young
of the year plumage. A GROUNDHOG
joined the group to get photographed. It is a very interesting group of photos
and it is worthwhile looking at each one individually to appreciate them.
** Again on mushrooms … many people
like Margaret Murray are commenting that they are seeing mushrooms that they
are not used to seeing until later in September or October. This is especially
true for the delicious HORSE MUSHROOM
that is in a growth spurt right now. When they are fresh their gills are light
pink to dark pink and the spore print surprisingly is black, which is a helpful
combination to identify this species.
** Peter Gadd expects that this is the
first year since 2012 that there has been a successful PIED-BILLED GREBE nest at Miramichi Marsh. They are, as of Tuesday
morning, 2 young ones but Peter suspects that Wednesday morning there would be
2 more. Checking his photos from years ago the young hatched in early and
mid-June. This pair was late in getting going but hopefully there will be
enough time for the young ones to mature in time for the trip south. What is
also interesting is that photos Peter has taken over the last 2 days show fresh
nesting material. The water level in the Miramichi Marsh has been rising with
all the rain we have had in recent weeks as the pond drainage is plugged and it
seems that the Pied-billed Grebes have built up their floating nest to keep
pace.
The water where they have made their
nest is not particularly deep although far from shore and the nest is moored,
Peter believes, to anchored vegetation. It has not moved in the few weeks that
he has been watching it. He has been worried about this but they too are one of
nature’s engineers that are able to cope. Peter comments that the species is
heartwarming to watch. Both parents are involved in raising the young and give
them piggyback rides. The feeding routine can be interesting to watch as well.
**While part of a bird survey, Jane
LeBlanc and Ted Sears came across 2 RED-THROATED LOONS (one on shore) in
West Quaco still showing breeding plumage remnants.
Jane also photographed ALDER
FLYCATCHERS (identifying this Empidonax flycatcher by its vocalization) as
well as 2 different COMMON WOOD-NYMPH BUTTERFLIES, one appearing much
fresher than the other.
** When Brian Stone recently visited
Erroll Mitchell’s property in Stilesville, where he has some productive ponds,
he photographed REDBELLY DACE MINNOWS
in the pools. An interesting encounter was an area on a large rock edge covered
with what looked like a black fungus at first but on close examination was a
huge number of small moving larvae which we were not able to identify. Alyre Chiasson
identified them promptly as CRANE FLY
LARVAE in the genus Tipulidae. We have many species of Crane Flies in New
Brunswick. This species’ larvae can become very numerous, even breeding in rain
gutters. They are harmless to humans.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
