NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
July 15,
2023
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Edited by
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols
at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**Louise Nichols enjoyed the trip to Gagetown Island and includes some photos, including several plant photos, the interesting patterns left in wood by burrowing insects, a very small Wood Frog she saw in the woods, a Great Blue Heron with a full crop and an Osprey next to a nest on Nevers Island. Looking closely at the nest, you can see a young Osprey barely visible inside.
**One of the
observations that very much caught the attention of participants of the Nature
Moncton foray to Gagetown Island was a black mass of fingerling fish moving
about in amoeba-like fashion. None of the participants had witnessed this
before.
The roaming
mass was hundreds of fingerling Brown Bullhead fish being protected
under the watchful eye of the parent fish swimming around and under the mass.
Alyre
Chiasson points out that it is the males that are the main guardians, not the
females. When the fingerlings are fry, they will swim into the mouth of the
male for protection, and the male can even move them to a safer place. This
activity is under hormonal control, so the appetite of the male is suppressed and they don’t eat the fry juveniles, as the Brown Bullhead is known to eat
almost anything that fits. The Brown Bullhead is in the catfish family which does
the same thing in rearing their young. It was an amazing activity to watch!
Brian Stone
was able to get some still photos and videos of the activity, but the brilliant
sheen of the sun on the slightly murky water made photographing difficult.
Check out
the action at the video links below:
David
Cannon photographed a plant that was growing in the water in patches that the
group was not familiar with.
Gart Bishop identified it as Floating-heart (Nymphoides cordata), pointing out that its range is fairly restricted to the southeastern corner of New Brunswick.
**Louise Nichols traveled to Oromocto the day before the
Gagetown Island trip to avoid having to do the long drive there and back in one
day. This also allowed her to check out a different nature area in
another part of the province.
Louise visited
the Deer Park Trail system in Oromocto and found a very active birding
and wildlife area filled with surprises. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes
were a little too active, and Louise left her bug spray in the hotel
room. But despite the constant battle with mosquitoes, Louise enjoyed the
walk. Some surprises were a Northern Waterthrush which obviously
had a nest nearby as it was carrying food and not happy to be
interrupted. Louise heard the constant singing of Veery as well as an
Eastern Wood Pee Wee. She was startled momentarily by a couple of young Pileated
Woodpeckers who landed on a tree in front of her. And surprised again
to hear the loud call of a Great-crested Flycatcher who was perched high
in a nearby tree. Louise also photographed a Chalk-fronted Corporal
Dragonfly, an Eastern Comma Butterfly, and a brown-coloured Leopard
Frog. The park consists of an old-growth forest and a waterfowl
marsh. One of the trails runs between the marsh and the Oromocto River.
An excellent place to explore if anyone is in the area.
**Aldo
Dorio photographed a duo of shorebirds at Hay Island on Thursday which appeared
to be Lesser Yellowlegs.
It is mid-July so this could be the start of the advanced guard in migration from
northern nesting grounds.
**Brian
Stone recently got a nice photo of a Harvestman a.k.a. Daddy Longlegs.
This small insect is very distinctive with its round compact body and
eight extremely long legs. It is happy to feed on decaying material but can
catch insect prey by using hooks on the ends of its long legs.
They will defend themselves by secreting a foul-smelling liquid on
sleuthing naturalists and are also quite capable of shedding a leg to escape.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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