Nature Moncton Nature News: April 30 2023

April 30, 2023

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .

Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**On Saturday, as Brian Coyle was checking on a barred owl nesting box, he saw some disturbance in the wet sand on the bank of a small brook. This begged further investigation, and he was rewarded with some nicely defined black bear tracks. Brian’s palm measures approximately 4” across, and he estimates the width of the front paw print to be approximately 5” across.

**Jane LeBlanc has things sprouting in her garden after a small amount of rain recently.
The bloodroot is just starting to open. She also
saw the first tri-colored bumble bee she has seen this year. It was enjoying the squill in her yard.

Squill is a bulb Jane bought at a garden center. They are planted in fall, like tulips. She plants them in the lawn to naturalize. Jane likes them because they flower so early and die back before the lawn needs mowing.

Jane transplanted the bloodroot into her yard. They have some growing in the woods on their property.

Jane was sitting on her deck on Saturday and noticed a hermit thrush in the corner of her yard.

**Lisa Morris sent a photo of a lady beetle back on October 5, 2022, photographed in Richibucto, which we did not get identified until recently.

It turns out to be the seaside lady beetle (Naemia seriata).

(Editor’s note: a literature review suggests this lady beetle is present in New Brunswick, but the editor has never seen it or had a photo of it submitted before. Take note of Lisa’s photos so we can identify them in the future. It is a coastal species, large, oval in shape, usually light brown, yellow or orange, with large black spots often connected along the sides and the pronotum, usually with one large black spot in the center. Lisa’s photos seem to show all these features).

**Aldo Dorio photographed a brightly plumaged white-throated sparrow on Saturday.

(Editor’s note: we are hearing its beautiful “oh sweet Canada Canada Canada” vocalization very commonly now and will be all summer).

**Brian Stone sends a few photos from Dartmouth, where he is presently visiting family. He checked out a few areas around Dartmouth to find ducks and other birds notably scarce.

At Sullivan's Pond, he noted an interesting hybrid or maybe intersex mallard duck, and at Shubie Park he got a yellow-rumped warbler and his first painted turtles of the season. One turtle was resting at the edge of the park pond, and another was sunning itself on a log close by.

**Nelson Poirier recently placed fish offal at a backwoods site and placed a trail camera onto the booty.

Visitors the first night and morning included red fox, raccoon, bald eagle, several turkey vultures, ravens, and crows.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton