NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Oct 6,
2022 (Thursday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Several caterpillar
species are on the move right now and will be soon going into their pupal cocoon for
the winter with a few nice photos for today’s edition.
Bev Schneider got a photo of the Galium
Sphinx AKA Bedstraw Hawk-moth caterpillar. They do tend to be variable in
colour pattern and Bev’s photo shows it as brown whereas one submitted earlier
by Sue Berube was quite dark.
When these caterpillars are found at this time
of year, they can be put in an aquarium style container with several inches of earth,
and they will soon form a cocoon under the earth surface which will emerge as
the beautiful Bedstraw Hawk-moth next spring (if not parasitized). It should be
kept in an unheated area overwinter with the ground damp but not saturated.
**Fred and Sue Richards also recently came
across one of the large sphinx moth caterpillars, the beautiful Laurel
Sphinx roaming about their Taylor Village yard.
They also noted 2 bird’s nests that were
blown out of a tree across the road from them by Hurricane Fiona. Fortunately,
our hurricanes often arrive in the fall after the nests have successfully
fledged their broods.
They also got a photo of a Spring
Peeper firmly attached to the siding of their home with the clearly visible
sucker toe pads. It is not unusual to hear the call of a single Spring
Peeper in a tree this time of year to sometimes frustrate birdwatchers until
familiar with the sound of a lone individual.
Fred and Sue knew that a Pileated
Woodpecker was around but had not seen it near the house before. She
flew into the yard and seemed unconcerned about the people there. Sue had
time to get the camera and take several photos while she went from tree to
tree. She seemed to like the stump.
**Shannon Inman got photos of a very
active Garter Snake about 18 to 20 inches long after which she directed
it off the roadway out of harm's way.
John Inman was able to get a photo of
an adult White-crowned Sparrow that visited their Harvey, Albert County
yard. This sparrow is stopping off at feeder yards to fuel up on its migratory
route from breeding grounds to the north of us to southerly wintering grounds, making the time window to see them relatively short. (Editor’s note: I am
reattaching a photo of a young-of-the-year White-crowned Sparrow that Aldo
Dorio photographed a few days ago to note the juvenile plumage of this sparrow).
**Aldo Dorio got a pleasant photo of a lone Horned Lark at Hay
Island on Wednesday. No doubt it will soon be joined by more.
**Lisa Morris photographed one of our many species of Ichneumon Wasps.
Lisa’s specimen shows the white sections in its long antennae.
Lisa also photographed the lady
beetle Coleomegilla maculata, commonly known as the Spotted Lady Beetle,
Pink Spotted Lady Beetle or Twelve-Spotted Lady Beetle, which is a
large lady beetle native to North America. The adults and larvae feed
primarily on aphids and the species has been used as a biological control
agent. (Editor’s note: BugGuide identified this lady beetle and literature
suggests it to be native to North America. I do not recall encountering this
lady beetle personally and am not sure of its status in New Brunswick at the time
of publishing this edition of Nature News. Comments are welcomed). Detailed
information is available at the link below.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Coleomegilla_maculata/
**Nelson Poirier would like to boast about the awesome strategy of his
pseudo-duck hunting dog Sadie. She came across a flock of Mallard Ducks on land
beside the river, but they would have nothing to do with her getting near when
they were on land and flew to the water for safety. Sadie decided it would be
an idea to slowly slip into the water and befriend them to get their confidence
and let them know that she was not a danger. It all worked out well until she got within a
few feet of them when they suddenly burst in flight and Sadie was left alone
without her duck reward. The ducks permitted no second opportunistic chances!
The photo says it all.
Nelson
Poirier
Nature
Moncton
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