Nature Moncton Nature News: June 22 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 22, 2022 (Wednesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**Heads up on our first weekly Wednesday night outing tonight. This summer Nature Moncton will be having weekly walks again but they will be on Wednesdays. The first will be held tonight, Wednesday June 22, 2022, at 6:00 PM and will be along the Riverfront Trail in Riverview and led by Fred Richards. The meeting spot will be at the pavilion just down the river from the Chocolate River Station. The walk will be along the Riverfront to the park beside the new bridge and then back. This will be a total of 1.2 km. on good gravel and boardwalk. The Tidal Bore should be coming along about the time we start so you might want to be a few minutes early as the time can vary a little. ( arriving early by 5:45 PM may be indicated in case the Bore arrives early). While the Tidal Bore is the main event, one might be pleasantly surprised by the variety of things to look at even in the city. These walks are free to members and $2.00 for non members. Fred hopes to see some of you there.

**A very big thank you to Jim Edsall for his presentation to Nature Moncton and friends on Tuesday evening about the life and times of Mother Nature’s moth community. Jim pointed out the significant importance of this group of insects by explaining the role they play in the diversity and well-being of the wildlife community. Jim pointed out how similar moths and butterflies really are and many of the unique ways that moths have evolved to protect themselves from predators. Jim’s presentation was delivered to a very attentive live audience and hopefully a large virtual audience with technical kinks still being corrected.

All thanks as well to Fred Richards for his ongoing attempts to smooth live and virtual presentations at the same time.

**A bird’s nest that we seldom get a chance to see is that of the Ovenbird. Dale Gaskin was fortunate enough to come across the ground nest of the species nestled under a dried grass cover looking like the opening to an oven. Dale was able to photograph it from a safe distance to not disturb the bird.

**It’s a very fitting day after last night’s moth presentation for Andrew Darcy to share some photographs of moths he spotted recently.

-AZALEA SPHINX (Darapsa choerilus) from Friday night (17/06/22) in Dieppe, New Brunswick. Andrew found this beauty on the driveway at the Irving gas station and was pleased as he had never seen this species, and the Sphinx moths are one of his favourites. Andrew was worried that the moth would get run over so put his hand down and it climbed right on. Andrew took some quick photos and video, then released to a safer area.

Here is some video of the AZALEA SPHINX MOTH:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1yqsbif583t6aer/20220617_232302.mp4?dl=0

Andrew also includes a few new species that he found at his back porch light this past week including White-lined Leafroller Moth, Saddled Prominent Moth, Dark-spotted Palthis Moth, and Artichoke Plume Moth.

**We are now seeing many young-of-the-year birds taking inaugural flights and lots of parental coaching to start them off on their life’s journey. Knowing the profile of the adult bird often helps identify them in their juvenile plumage.

Nelson Poirier attaches a photo of a juvenile Common Grackle that illustrates that.

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com