Nature Moncton Nature News: July 31 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

July 31, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**This Wednesday’s evening Nature Moncton walk ( August 4) is upfront today with details below as notice is late getting out this week. It will be repeated tomorrow at the end of the edition and upfront on Wednesday morning.

Our Wednesday August 2nd, Nature Moncton walk will be in Salisbury around our beautiful nature wetlands and a short stroll down to the river from the path, if desired.

Start time is at 7:00 with parking on the not-paved section at the end of McDonald Road. If you come in by the highway, take Salisbury exit by the Big Stop, go left and head down 112 to our Town of Salisbury.

Take a right on Salisbury's main street and continue on to the first road on the left past the Pizza Mill. Parking is available in a designated area. David Miller will take the lead on this outing, with help from Lois Budd.

Some of the birds we may see are Pied-billed Grebe, Virginia Rails, Cardinals and surprises. Dragonflies are present, along with lots of different grasses and weeds, and perhaps the pond lily will be blooming.

We also have an invasive plant called Wild Cucumber Vine that many spend hours pulling up before the seeds burst out.

There are many milkweed plants so we may see a Monarch. It will be a delight to all with something of interest in Nature for everyone. We also have a wooden platform to view the water from, benches to sit on and a well-groomed flat surface to enjoy our walkabout. This is an open trail with trees on the far side, a pond, water ponds in the middle all raising mosquito larvae so remember your bug stuff. Interesting at all times of the year.

**David and Anita Cannon get a variety of critters that visit their yard pool, especially amphibians.

Red-backed Salamanders are very common, along with various other salamanders, American Toads, Spring Peepers, and the occasional Green Frog.

Saturday was a very special day when they had a visit from the common yet not often seen Eastern Newt (Red Eft stage) to allow for a nice photograph with a Red-backed Salamander and a Green Frog looking on.

The critters were all promptly netted and placed back in the woods.

(Editor’s note: the Red Eft is the land stage of the Eastern Newt. The adults are aquatic, laying their eggs there, but when the larvae hatch, they head to land as the Red Eft stage for 2 to 3 years, then return to their aquatic lifestyle as adults.)

** Deana and Peter Gadd made their first visit to Miramichi Marsh for a few days, and Peter found their timing was good. A Pied-billed Grebe has been sitting on a nest mid-pond for a few weeks. They noticed Sunday that the eggs have hatched, and 7 hatchlings were shoulder to shoulder on the ‘raft’, seeming to get along quite well. They must be a few days old. There does seem to be some size variance among them.

Meanwhile, another young Pied-billed Grebe was nearby, one that was hatched during the first week of June.

It is possible that these recent hatchlings are a second clutch, but Peter doesn’t know for certain as there were 2 pair of adults earlier in the spring. Certainly, the nest for the newest clutch was made just for them, not ‘recycled’ from the June batch.

**John Inman had an Ovenbird visit that stayed high enough in the cedar bushes for an excellent photograph.

John also had a Common Wood-nymph Butterfly cooperate nicely to show both upper and lower wings flashing its bright ‘eyespot’.

**The birds who produce second broods are actively doing so.

Lisa Morris almost stepped on a fledgling American Robin in the yard - thought it was a toad in the grass at first as it hopped away- quite the commotion from Mama and Papa, the baby (and Lisa!)

Lisa suspected it fell from its nest. One of the parents was feeding it and carefully watched Lisa put a shade screen in front of it (rather than stress it out by moving it to a safer, shadier area.)

A brightly marked grasshopper was perched on the screenhouse - a very quick and agile jumper- hard to catch to release. BugGuide has identified it as a grasshopper species but has yet to get a firm handle on identification.

** While picking beans Saturday evening, Jamie Burris spotted a strikingly marked little spider among the beans. He researched it to find it is called a Common Candy-striped Spider. Apparently, it can give a nasty bite and kill prey much larger than itself!

It is of European origin, but now many more reports of its presence in northeastern North America.

** On Sunday, Brian Stone visited Highland Park in Salisbury along with a trip out on Taylor Rd. in Second North River. The weather was mostly sunny and a bit cooler than the last few days. While Brian was walking along the Taylor Rd., a lucky break occurred when a Say's Cicada flew in and landed on a sapling tree trunk right beside Brian's head. He observed the cicada and took photographs and then noticed an ant walking around the tree trunk heading towards the cicada. It looked to Brian as if the cicada grabbed the ant and then took off with it, or maybe it just got irritated by the ant and left -- he is not sure which. In a nearby pond, a Leopard Frog Tadpole showed signs of transitioning into an adult frog.

At Highland Park in Salisbury, Brian found a male Widow Skimmer Dragonfly, a type of dragonfly he has not seen in New Brunswick before. He wonders if it is a regular New Brunswick resident that he has just managed to miss each year. He also photographed an adult Virginia Rail and one of the three Virginia Rail Chicks (beautiful photographs) he saw running along with the adult. Brian has more photos from his day out that will be sent later for the next edition.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton