NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 10,
2022 (Tuesday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**On Saturday, May 7, Gart Bishop visited the Jemseg area
to the first turtle pond (by the transformer) and spotted 47 Painted Turtles
and added 14 more as he made his way down toward the ferry, making it 64
turtles for the area. This is a new record for Gart. Twenty-five
years ago, Jim Brown and Gart saw 57 turtles over the same area. (Editor's note: great to note this population is continuing to thrive in that area.)
On Monday morning Gart noticed they had Tree
Swallows nesting in a nesting box he received from Nature Moncton many
years ago but was just erected this spring.
**Brian Coyle found a Predacious Diving Beetle on Monday. It was
1 1/2” long and 3/4” wide and got photographs of it over and under. We tend to see this large beetle more often this time of year moving between ponds. It has the habit of diving with a bubble of air and taking prey such as tadpoles, small fish, etc. **On Monday
Brian Stone walked the circular trail around Highland Park Pond in Salisbury in
beautiful spring weather. His first photograph of the day was of a large Nest
in a birch tree. It appeared to be about 8 to 10 inches in diameter. An Eastern
Chipmunk paused and posed on top of his den to watch Brian take that photo.
A Muskrat stopped foraging and swam off as Brian passed, and some trees
along the way had been recently felled by an industrious Beaver. A Canada
Goose was nest sitting and the Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere
as usual. Small Fish were jumping at the surface of the water while one
of the two Pied-billed Grebes visible appeared to be snacking on large
tadpoles.
Ducks seen
were a Blue-winged Teal pair and a Northern Shoveler pair. (Editor's note: the large shovel bill surely stands out!) The
regularly resident Common Gallinule was back from his winter vacation
and was photographed hiding in the reeds far out in the middle of the pond,
challenging the camera to record it with any detail. Dandelion flowers
were finally blooming and were attracting flies as well as other pollinators.
And an early Cabbage White Butterfly flew past and decided to stop long
enough to be photographed.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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