Editor & Proofreader

Editor: Nelson Poirier    Proofreader: Louise Nichols

Sunday 18 September 2022

Sept 18 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

 Sept 18, 2022 (Sunday)

 

 

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

 

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

 

**There will be a 3-to-5-day interruption in Nature News publication starting Monday morning as the editor will be in an area with no Internet service.

Please continue to forward messages and photos as usual and publication will resume when I get back to an area of Internet coverage.

 

 **Sue Berube was able to capture an excellent photo of the Bedstraw Hawkmoth caterpillar a.k.a. Galium Sphinx on Friday.

This caterpillar can vary in appearance, but Sue’s photo shows the appearance of this species most commonly seen.

The larval caterpillars' first choice to forage upon may be Bedstraw and Fireweed plants but their cuisine can include other plants if indicated.

 

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins saw a Monarch Butterfly flying on the St. Martins beach on Friday. On Saturday, she had one of two chrysalides eclose in her greenhouse and she photographed the newly emerged butterfly drying in the sun.

Nelson Poirier is experiencing a similar scenario with Monarch Butterflies still gradually eclosing taking up to 25 days to do so after taking 10-12 days in earlier seasons.

 

**Pat Gibbs shares a few photos of her teenage Ring-necked Pheasants that call her yard home. The youngsters are now developing plumages that indicate what gender they will become and enjoying Pat’s hospitality to the utmost.

 

** John Inman had 3 Baltimore Orioles arrive to his yard on Saturday morning. They were feeding on insects in the birch and cedars. John noted the slight colour difference in each one and was fortunate enough to get a photograph of 3 birds in one frame.

We seem to see orioles in the spring; they then go quiet during the nesting period, and then we start to see them again in fall migration around human habitation with some partaking in fruit and suet blend offerings in feeder yards with some lingering quite late.

 

**Brian Stone sends the last of his photos from his visit to Upham and the Hampton lagoons. He managed to catch the time when the large group of Turkey Vultures at the lagoons took off together to begin their day of foraging. He also photographed a flock of Canada Geese approaching and landing in one of the lagoons. 

At his sister Carol's place in Upham, Brian photographed a variety of subjects. He sends images of several warblers from the wooded area around the home including a Bay-breasted Warbler, a few Black-throated Green Warblers, a Northern Parula Warbler, a Black and White Warbler, and a Red-eyed Vireo.

 

 Three caterpillars caught by the camera were the Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar, the Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar, and the American Dagger Moth Caterpillar

A Maple Spanworm Moth and a Damselfly were also photographed along with a hover fly that appears to be an Oblique-banded Pond Fly and another, very wasp-like, Hoverfly in the genus Chrysotoxum. Some lawn Mushrooms were fruiting nicely, and British Soldier Lichen also lined the edge of the woods. Many nice examples of Orb Weaver Webs were suspended along the edge of the front and back decks, most having occupants hiding during the daylight hours.

 

Brian stepped outside about an hour and a half past midnight and was rewarded with a fantastic sight of a 22° Lunar Halo with Moon Dogs and a partial Paraselenic Circle, the evening version of a daytime Parhelic Circle which is a band stretching from or through Sundogs and circles the sky at the level of the Sun when complete. As Brian had no camera set up to capture night time images he just grabbed his cell phone and tried to get a photo but missed the full image as the thin clouds causing the display had mostly passed by then and he only got a faint echo of the wonderful scene.

 

On the way to Upham, Brian stopped at Penobsquis and saw a male Northern Harrier Hawk and an American Crow competing for supremacy of the skies over a large field. Their interactions continued as they moved off to a different area and Brian did not learn who won the right to fly there.

 

 

 **Nelson Poirier noted a bird in his yard appearing to be feeding on white millet seeds that he at first did not recognize until it turned around to show the white chevrons on its breast to make it obvious it was a young-of-the-year European Starling.

 

**In the event there is no publication by Tuesday, I am attaching the write-up for the Nature Moncton meeting scheduled for Tuesday night, September 20 at 7:00 PM with presenter Neil Vinson.

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 Park 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

 

 

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton

 

BALTIMORE ORIOLES. SEPT 17, 2022. JOHN INMAN

BALTIMORE ORIOLE. SEPT 17, 2022. JOHN INMAN

BALTIMORE ORIOLE. SEPT 17, 2022. JOHN INMAN

BALTIMORE ORIOLE. SEPT 17, 2022. JOHN INMAN

BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. SEPT. 16, 2022.  BRIAN STONE

BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. SEPT. 16, 2022.  BRIAN STONE

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE



NORTHERN PARULA. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

NORTHERN PARULA. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

BAY-BREASTED WARBLER. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE


RED-EYED VIREO. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

RING-NECKED PHEASANT (YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR MALE). SEPT 17, 2022. PAT GIBBS

RING-NECKED PHEASANT (YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR FEMALE). SEPT 17, 2022. PAT GIBBS

EUROPEAN STARLING (YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR). SEPT 17, 2022. NELSON POIRIER

TURKEY VULTURE. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

TURKEY VULTURES. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

NORTHERN HARRIER HAWK AND CROW. SEPT. 15, 2022. BRIAN STONE

NORTHERN HARRIER HAWK. SEPT. 15, 2022. BRIAN STONE

CANADA GEESE. SEPT. 15, 2022. .BRIAN STONE

CANADA GEESE. SEPT. 15, 2022. .BRIAN STONE

MAPLE SPANWORM MOTH. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

MAPLE SPANWORM MOTH. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

BEDSTRAW HAWKMOTH CATERPILLAR AKA GALIUM SPHINX. SEPT 16, 2022. SUE BERUBE

AMERICAN DAGGER MOTH CATERPILLAR. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

BANDED TUSSOCK MOTH CATERPILLAR. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

SPOTTED TUSSOCK MOTH CATERPILLAR. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

MONARCH BUTTERFLY. SEPT. 17, 2022. JANE LEBLANC

OBLIQUE-BANDED POND FLY. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

TRI-COLOURED BUMBLEBEE. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

HOVER FLY (GENUS CHRYSOTOXUM). SEPT. 16, 2022.  BRIAN STONE


BRITISH SOLDIER LICHEN. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

DAMSELFLY. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE


ORB WEAVER WEBS. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE

 
LUNAR HALO WITH MOON DOG. SEPT. 16, 2022. BRIAN STONE