Nature Moncton Nature News: August 2 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

August 2, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Tonight’s Wednesday evening Nature Moncton walk (August 2) write-up is below:

** The 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 the 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, Northern 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 Butterfly. 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, and water ponds in the middle, all raising mosquito larvae so remember your bug repellant. Interesting at all times of the year.

**On Tuesday, Suzanne Rousseau in Sussex found 5 Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars on one of her Swamp Milkweed plants. Suzanne never saw the Monarch Butterfly itself, but it must have been present approximately two weeks ago because the caterpillars are of a good size and will probably go into the chrysalis stage soon.

Susan also shares a photo of the sky looking like it was on fire Monday night while it was still raining. She has never seen it so red. It was beautiful!

**Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins found 3 Monarch Butterfly caterpillars on her milkweed plants on Tuesday. There are probably more, but it's quite a jungle to try and get in and around her plants. She hasn't seen any butterflies for a couple of days.

**Louise Nichols went out to the Tintamarre on Tuesday morning to try to find the Sedge Wren that was reported in the location on Monday. Although she and another birder thought they might have heard the song of the wren very faintly in the distance at a couple of points, they were not confident enough to say for sure. The song was too faint for the Merlin app to respond, so no confirmation from there either. A number of birders were at the site at various times in the morning but as of noon, no one had definitely heard or seen the bird. All was not lost, however, as a Sandhill Crane flew overhead at one point while vocalizing (Louise got a distant documentary photo). Two Caspian Terns also appeared above the marsh and 5 or 6 Black Terns were flying and vocalizing at the far end of the marsh.

At home, Glen alerted Louise to another strange flowering plant growing in one of his flower beds which turned out to be a Broad-leaved Helleborine, the second orchid species that has come up in his gardens this summer. Glen may never weed again. Louise also attaches a photo of a Great-spangled Fritillary Butterfly perched on an Echinacea flower.

**Brian Stone shares a Two-lined Hooktip Moth (Deprana bilineata) in today's line-up.

**Bob Blake maintains daily temperature statistics and monthly precipitation amounts from his Second North River home.

Bob forwards a table comparing July 2022 and July 2023.
It appears temperatures recorded were quite similar; however, precipitation was not similar at all with 95 mm in July 2022 compared to a whopping 239 mm in July 2023.

2022

2023

morning temperatures

daily highs and rainfall

morning temperatures

daily highs and rainfall

+24-1 day

+23-1

+22-4

+19-3

+18-4

+17-2