Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 14 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Sept 14, 2022 (Wednesday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**John Inman had a young-of-the-year Northern Cardinal show briefly for a meal from a male parent on Monday which was a first for John’s Harvey, Albert County yard. John comments he hopes it makes it as the Cooper’s Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk are busy hunting there.

The number of reports of young-of-the-year Northern Cardinals in southeastern New Brunswick has to be swelling albeit slowly. John’s photographed bird would have the potential of being from a second brood.

The bill of juveniles can be expected to show the gradual change to black, then red by maturity early next spring.

John is also noting the sudden appearance of young-of-the-year American Goldfinch being fed by adults. Late nesting with this species is to be expected.

**Aldo Dorio photographed a Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar at the Malpec Road near Neguac on Tuesday morning.

This colourful caterpillar is one of the many colourful caterpillars that tend to appear this time of year that soon will be moving to the cocoon/chrysalis stage for the winter.

(Editor’s note: the Malpec Road is a short road just north of Neguac that leads to an interesting area of marsh and shoreline. It is a destination to visit when checking out nearby Hay Island.)

**The Nature Moncton Activities Committee has been active preparing activities and presentations for the upcoming season.

As a heads up, some write ups for these events are prepared and added below for the September meeting next week, September 20 and the October meeting, October 18.

A special field trip to the Mapleton Acadian Forest is scheduled for October 8 and is included below as well. Other field trips are planned but write-ups not completed yet; however, all will soon be on the Nature Moncton website.

**NATURE MONCTON SEPTEMBER MEETING
Tuesday September 20th, 2022 at 7:00 PM
Mapleton Lodge
Building a Pollinator Garden

Presenter: Neil Vinson

We are fortunate to have Neil Vinson present us with the information to develop a pollinator garden at our homes. Nature needs all the help we can give to support this basic need in the ecosystem of our yards and beyond.

Originally from Halifax, NS, Neil Vinson has been living in Moncton since graduating from the Maritime College of Forest Technology in 2014. Shortly after graduation, Neil started working in resource conservation at Fundy National Park, where he is now into his ninth year. Neil’s love of plants and birds started in school but flourished during his time spent at Fundy. In his day-to-day work, Neil conducts forest bird monitoring, battles with invasive plants, and measures forest growth in permanent sample plots.

Neil has been involved with Fundy’s 400m2 native plant pollinator garden since its inception in 2019 – adding new species, knocking back overly-aggressive ones, weeding, and performing general maintenance. Through this work Neil has developed a passion for gardening with native plants and spreading the word on the importance of reintroducing our native species back into our urban landscapes.

This will be a hybrid meeting with Neil presenting at Mapleton Lodge. Those who wish to join in virtually on Zoom can go to the attached link at 6:50 PM.

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

**Nature Moncton October meeting

October 18, 2022, at 7:00 PM

Subject: Getting to Know Common Lichens

Speaker: Kendra Driscoll - New Brunswick Museum

Moncton Rotary Lodge

Lichens are a fascinating community in Mother Nature’s world and they are with us to enjoy all year long.

Kendra Driscoll, Curatorial and Research Technician for Botany and Mycology at the New Brunswick Museum, is a specialist in lichens and has helped us appreciate lichen photos submitted to Nature News, always with nice-to-know commentary.

Kendra will tailor her presentation to amateur lichen appreciation by introducing 10 of the most commonly encountered species with some identification features of each to help us enjoy our outdoor experiences all the more by being able to call several by name.

Expect Kendra’s contagious enthusiasm to get us all looking a bit more closely at something that cooperatively will stay still to be checked out and does not have to be stalked to look at!

All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

This presentation will be delivered virtually -- but the virtual presentation will be shown at the Rotary lodge at Mapleton Park for all those who want to meet in-person. Anyone who wants to connect from home can do so at the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83527513619?pwd=THJmNVZscUZDVkdQWHIvZXZ5Y2h5dz09

** NATURE MONCTON FIELD TRIP TO THE MAPLETON ACADIAN FOREST TRAIL IN ELGIN

Date: Saturday October 8^th (Rain date: Sunday Oct. 9^th)

Time: 9:30 AM

Meeting Place: The Elgin Country Kitchen and General Store (from there, we will go together to the entrance of the trail)

Mapleton Acadian Forest Trail

Last spring, we enjoyed an outing on this trail, but it’s worth a visit in every season. October will bring highlights not seen in May, especially an abundance of wild mushrooms and the beauty of the fall colours. This will be a full day outing, so bring a lunch. As some of you may remember, the trail winds through a superb example of a mature Acadian forest characterized by a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees growing in a relatively humid environment. This creates fertile soil and good habitat for all kinds of living things that will be waiting for us there, and much to investigate for mushroom lovers.

The Mapleton Acadian Forest Nature Preserve was established in 2016 to conserve in perpetuity this otherwise endangered habitat in the province. The preserve is the result of a partnership between The Elgin Eco Association and the Nature Trust of New Brunswick. It covers 160 acres and boasts an excellent 3 km nature trail with several interpretive panels which will help us understand the natural beauties and also historic aspects of the preserve, like an old manganese processing plant from the 1930’s, a sugar camp, and some remnants of old-time forestry. On the nature side there will be much to see like huge mature trees of several species, in particular a stand of towering hemlocks several centuries old.

How to get there and difficulty level

The entrance to the Mapleton Acadian Forest Trail is located 4.4 km down the NB-895 after turning off the NB-905 just before Elgin. We will meet first at the Elgin Country and Kitchen General Store in Elgin which is located at # 4 River Rd. Take exit 233 from the Trans-Canada highway onto NB-905 and follow it down until it changes to River Rd. From the store, we will all go together to the trail entrance, so no one gets lost.

The trail is rated as moderate with difficult sections. There are some hills to be climbed, so please be sure you are in good physical shape. Appropriate footwear and clothing are advised.

Nature Moncton

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com