Nature Moncton Nature News: Oct 16 2022

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Oct 16, 2022 (Sunday)

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

**David Cannon removed a Wood Frog from their outdoor swimming pool Saturday evening. It was quite active and enjoying the rain.

The Cannons do get quite a variety of amphibians visiting their pool, but a Wood Frog is a rarity but then again, their pool is actually in the woods!

**It has not been a great season so far for mushrooms. Let’s consider the past day to be a refreshing fall mushroom rain.

**The monthly October Nature Moncton meeting is happening on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. Details are at the end of this message.

** On Friday afternoon, Trevor Clancy and Lois Budd enjoyed a lovely fall walk along many of the Clancy’s mowed woodland trails. The weather was beautiful and the sounds of leaves falling and swishing under their feet was a delight to the senses. Lois sends photos of several of the beautiful trees the Clancys enjoy with their daily walks. Trevor and Elaine Clancy invite anyone to join them as they enjoy the company on their woodland trails.

**On Friday afternoon, Anna Tucker and her brother had an awesome afternoon feeding the Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees and Red Squirrels from their hand and tossing peanuts to the Blue Jays.

There were as many as a dozen at one time. They used nyjer seed and sunflower seeds for the nuthatches and chickadees and whole peanuts for the squirrels and Blue Jays.

It was active for over an hour, and in one spot birds kept coming and going.

** Brian Stone walked the road and trail behind Irishtown Park on Thursday in cloudy but warm weather with a bit of wind. Very few birds presented themselves to him; other than the few Black-capped Chickadees that always seem to be around he only managed to see one different bird, a Blue-headed Vireo (Editor’s note: note the signature ‘spectacle’ feature in the species).

A few insects were still visible including several faded Clouded Sulphur Butterflies, a Rove Beetle, many Autumn Meadowhawk Dragonflies, some Bumblebees, a Flower Fly, and a Water Beetle perched on a blade of grass. Green Frogs and Leopard Frogs were sharing the water in a ditch beside the road and a few plants photographed were Bur-Reed, Eyebright, Oak Leaves (Editor’s note: always felt Red Oak leaves simply turned brown in the autumn but am noting in submitted photos and in travels, there seems to be blushes of red and yellow in Red Oak foliage. Maybe I simply overlooked this in other years) and Winterberry Holly.

**Nelson Poirier was surprised at the pugnacious attitude of a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk that worked his camp yard for over an hour on Saturday.

The Blue Jays loudly announced its presence as the hawk chased several of them relentlessly, both species screaming. The hawk appeared no larger than the Blue Jays when perched. The Blue Jays would simply dodge its dives at them and continue feeding. At one point, it even flushed a Pileated Woodpecker. However, on the second dive at the woodpecker, it was almost completely ignored. Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches along with the odd sparrow had been abundant all day but were nowhere in sight during the raptor’s visit.

The size of the hawk suggested it to be a male that was either very inexperienced or very hungry or both!

** 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!

Participants can gather at the Mapleton Rotary Lodge with the presentation on the big screen or they can tune in virtually if indicated.

All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

This presentation will be delivered virtually at the Zoom link below:

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton