Nature Moncton Nature News: August 3 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

August 3, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**All appreciation to David Miller and Lois Budd for leading Wednesday night’s Nature Moncton walk to Highland Park in Salisbury. 20+ participants were kept very busy with special observations, which will be shared photographically over the next few days in addition to some of Brian Stone’s, which are available this morning.

**Yolande LeBlanc has at least 3 juvenile Northern Cardinals coming to feed in her Memramcook feeder yard. One appears to be showing male colours already. The bills are not red as yet on the immature birds and usually do not reach that stage of maturity until November-December. One of Norbert’s photos shows the red bill of an adult male.

A photographer friend of Yolande, Norbert Dupuis, was able to capture several photos that show the variation in plumage between the individuals.

From the photos, it would appear that white millet may be a popular menu item.

**Shannon Inman came across another red-toned Garter Snake on Wednesday.

Shannon also took a photo of the full Moon on Tuesday evening, which is sometimes referred to as the Sturgeon Moon, which is very fitting after Shannon seeing an Atlantic Sturgeon jumping in the river recently.

**Lisa Morris photographed a bumblebee on its mission pollinating and gathering pollen from a marigold bloom as well as a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth nectaring and playing a pollinator role for Swamp milkweed.

**Leigh Eaton had a Hummingbird Clear-wing Moth visit on Wednesday. It is only the second time Leigh has seen this species and the first time he had photographic cooperation.

The duration of the visit was 10 minutes, and the Petunias seemed to be the bloom of choice. Take a look at the action at the video link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/em4r85nksq9g1xgm2jcjw/Hummingbird-Moth.MOV?rlkey=4uu7lh4qxkpy43f2m28vypehw&dl=0

**Brian Stone sends a few photos from Nature Moncton's Wednesday Walk at Highland Park in Salisbury on Aug. 02. In the parking lot, while waiting for participants to arrive, Brian and several others photographed an immature Eastern Bluebird foraging on berries in a tree beside the lot. Also in the same tree was a female Baltimore Oriole doing the same. A few Common Nighthawks flew overhead at one point during the outing, and Brian snapped a quick, distant flight photo of one. The group walked the trail around the ponds for an hour and a half and saw many interesting nature subjects and more photos displaying some of these subjects will be sent tomorrow.

**Shannon Richard with the New Brunswick environmental network provides a list of activities she has been advised of for the month of August. The list is below, and a left click on each item opens a description and registration where indicated.

The NBEN is proud to share information on upcoming events available to those interested in the environment. If you would like your event to appear in our monthly calendar email, please make sure to post it on our on-line calendar by logging into the Eco-Community and filling in the details here.