Nature Moncton Nature News: June 2 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 2, 2022 (Thursday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**The Black-bellied Whistling Ducks visit to the Bathurst area has caught some media attention. CBC did an article on the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, and they used Andrew Darcy’s photos and video. Take a look at the presentation at the link below:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/whistling-duck-visits-nb-1.6472604

**Aldo Dorio got a pleasant photo of a Bay-breasted Warbler at Hay Island on Wednesday. We don’t get photos of the Bay-breasted Warbler often. This male shows its vibrant colours in Aldo’s photo.

**David Cannon recently photographed a longhorn beetle near their home. We have received a good number of photos of longhorn beetles to Nature News in the past but I do not recall ever getting this one and did not recognize it. Bugguide identified it with the scientific name Anthophylax cyaneus. The literature suggests it as an S4 in New Brunswick. The red legs make it quite identifiable, and it seems to have several common names including Flower Longhorn Beetle, Red-footed Longhorn Beetle, and Metallic Longhorn Beetle.

**Brian Stone checked out the woods behind Crandall University on Tuesday in the nice weather to find a few interesting subjects to photograph. Some birds that showed up for a photo were Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. A Red-eyed Vireo was seen collecting birch bark for nesting material.

The Tent Caterpillars were coming out of their tents and Six-spotted Tiger Beetles were performing their short, hopping flights along the dry dirt trails. Also, along these trails were tiny, red, Nomad Cuckoo Bees searching for other small bees to parasitize. In dead grass and straw alongside the old road trails Wolf Spiders were common carrying their egg sacs along with them. A Flesh Fly, and Damselfly, Bee Flies, and a Clouded Sulphur Butterfly represented the "fly guys".

Big, Red-belted Bumblebees were still utilizing Dandelions as a food source. A small, interesting, White-spotted Sable Moth led Brian on a long chase for a photo.

Bullfrog Tadpoles and other smaller Tadpoles populated the main pond, and some of the smaller tadpoles were even present in the wet ATV tire ruts. The ponds (and tire ruts) were full of tiny, golden, shell-like Ostracods, aka Seed Shrimp.

Brian checked his regular spot for Pink Lady's Slipper Orchids and the small group of 3 or 4 plants were up and blooming. Also seen flowering in the plant world were Wild Sarsaparilla, Bunchberry, Bluebead Lily (Clintonia), Canada Mayflower, and Starflower.