Nature Moncton Nature News: June 13 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 13, 2023

Species names in boldface indicate that a photo is included.

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

Andrea Milburn was in the Hampton area on Sunday and captured an excellent photo of the 1st-summer Black-crowned Night Heron in Hampton that has been present there for a few days.

**John Inman photographed just a portion of the incredible number of Blue Jays lingering in his Harvey feeder yard. John comments it seems late for them to go north. A few seem to make it across the river, but the rest turn back due to hawks. Hard on the seed supply and regular patrons.

**Gart Bishop had a chance Monday morning to head out with Kelly Honeyman to a small population of a rare plant (S2) that Gart had never seen before. ‘Gay Wings’ or ‘Fringed Polygala’ [Polygaloides paucifolia], is not commonly encountered and is found in moist, acid, mixed woods, according to the Flora of New Brunswick. Truly the habitat is most unremarkable, being a handful of small (1m square) plots located in the young mixed woods of an extraction trail (where 25 years ago, a strip 10 m wide was harvested) and now has come up with Red Maple, Balsam Fir, Bunchberry, Pink Lady’s Slipper, Bracken Fern, and Mountain Birch. This low (<15 cm high) plant seemed happy enough in its very common habitat setting, but was strikingly gorgeous in bloom, looking very much like an orchid. The following flower description is from the U.S. Forest Service web page:

“The sepals consist of three small outer and two large, showy petal-like “wings.” Of the petals, two are united to form a tubular structure, with the third keeled or boat-shaped petal cresting in a delicate yellow or pink fringe or frill. The keel encloses the reproductive structures, and when a bug lands on the keel, these structures are exposed for pollination. Besides the showy insect-pollinated flowers, there are also inconspicuous flowers that are borne underground and self-fertilize without opening.”

This species spreads from underground stems (rhizomes) and belongs to the Milkwort Family [Polygalaceae], so named as it was thought that consumption of its members would increase nursing mammal’s milk production. The leaves were used externally by the Iroquois as a wash or poultice to treat abscesses, boils, and sores. New Brunswick is its most easterly, and northern location in North America. A photo is from the internet with some photos Gart took Monday with his phone.

Kelly Honeyman would like to express credit to Forester Grant Steeves for this find. The JDI Rare Plant Pre-screening program is nothing without all the extra eyes they train yearly. And Grant is amongst the best!

(Editor’s note: what a unique plant to take note of in case some of us are lucky enough to find a new location!)

**On Monday, Georges Brun photographed a flock of approximately 200 Common Eiders flying over the Petitcodiac River. Georges has never seen these birds arrive at this time of year. They saw them downriver of the Bend; they then flew a few times over the Riverview Marsh before they got organized in a single file and headed north via the Shediac Road.

The flock appeared to be male birds, with the exception of only one brown plumage individual. Females will no doubt be on their nests at this time, with males soon going into eclipse plumage.

**Aldo Dorio photographed a Chipping Sparrow on Monday that nicely shows the dark eyeline that extends from the back of the head through the eye right to the bill. This extension of the black line between the eye and the bill is distinctive to the Chipping Sparrow to help identify it from similar sparrows.

**Brian Stone sends some delayed photos from last Friday that he took at Lower Jemseg in cloudy, cool weather. It was so cool that Brian was worried that the turtles would be hiding in sheltered areas or be submerged to stay warm, but luckily he managed to find a few Painted Turtles out basking to satisfy his turtle requirements for the day. To supplement the turtle photos, Brian adds images of a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a first-year male American Redstart, a Baltimore Oriole, an Osprey and Osprey Nest, and a Canada Anemone Flower, all from the same area.

**On Saturday, Brian Stone photographed some swallows perching on the fence at the Salisbury lagoon on Government Rd. Among the regular Tree Swallows, Brian noted many brown ones that appear to be Bank Swallows. Both were extremely acrobatic, and the Bank Swallows appeared to be very interactive with each other. In the lagoon, a dozen Wood Ducks perched on pipes to make a colorful lineup.

Brian also stopped at the west end of Wilson Marsh, further down Salisbury Rd., and found an active Black Swallowtail Butterfly sitting in the tall grass between flights and then moved on to the edge of the ponds to wait for a Marsh Wren to pop up into view long enough to get photographed. They were very vocal but rarely came into view long enough to get their picture taken. A curious Swamp Sparrow also managed to get in on the action and showed the wrens how to pose for a photo.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com