Nature Moncton Nature News: July 18 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

July 18, 2022 (Monday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**Jane Aikman and John Foster have a bird bath on the railing of their deck. An American Robin was splashing away, having a bath.

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding below on scarlet runner blossoms darted up, hovered to time it properly, then flew right through the spray of the robin’s next splashing. What a clever little bird!

**Pat Gibbs saw an animal in her back yard on Sunday; she thinks it was eating the flowers off the tops of the clover. Pat is new to NB and at first thought it was a giant rat and was rather horrified but then when she looked closer it seemed to have a slightly bushy tail and she didn’t think rats had bushy tails. It was indeed an urban Groundhog a.k.a. Woodchuck.

This animal is more normally seen in a rural environment as vehicular traffic can be problematic.

The Groundhog constructs a very elaborate underground burrow network with appropriate ‘rooms’ for housekeeping duties. The underground network may be extensive but there is usually only one cryptic entrance hole and another or a few exit holes which could easily go unnoticed. They’re harmless to humans unless cornered and unable to escape which is not often as they are seldom far from the entrance hole to safety.

The Groundhog is a herbivore so is attracted to a variety of low plants. They can be problematic to gardeners as they find many veggies quite delicious! They can be live trapped in a raccoon trap baited with a sumptuous head of iceberg lettuce and appropriately relocated. They would rarely be attracted to birdfeeder seeds.

In summary, they are a pleasant animal to watch in your yard unless you're not prepared to share your gardening efforts.

**Jamie Burris reports lots of action is still happening in their Riverview backyard. On Friday, they had 2 Monarch Butterflies on the Swamp Milkweed and another one depositing eggs on Saturday. That's 6 days in a row they have been laying eggs on the milkweed. While taking photos of eggs Karen noticed something dark on one of the leaves. Jamie is attaching what he suspects is a cluster of baby Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetles. He has seen the mature beetle but never the eggs and young.

Their resident Black-capped Chickadees have left the nest and the mom has been feeding them in a Spruce Tree for the last 2 days.

With the recent blooming of their Bee Balm, the yard is a battlefield for hummingbirds chasing one another like little fighter planes all around the yard!

**Yolande LeBlanc’s duo of Northern Cardinal young-of-the-year are becoming very comfortable around her Memramcook home and showing rapid growth. The parents are not tending them as they were so the potential of another brood has to be a possibility.

Rather suspect that they would be as happy as Yolande to have siblings!

**Aldo Dorio sends a full-size photo of a Common Whitetail Dragonfly. It is showing the features of an adult male with the stout abdomen covered in a bright white pruinosity to give it its common name and the single thick black bands on each wing.

Females lack the bold white abdomen. They do have heavy black wing stripes but are doubled.

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com