Nature Moncton Nature News: August 31 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

August 31, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**Paul and Rhonda Langelaan were at Cape Tormentine in August and watched 3 Whimbrel fly onto the beach and then cross Wharf Road in front of them. It was a nice sighting for them, and Rhonda was able to get some excellent photos!
Rhonda also captured photographs of a very rapidly moving Hummingbird Clearing Moth enjoying the nectar provided by their home gardening efforts at their prime.

**Very heavy rainfall resulted in Nature Moncton’s Wednesday walk being an inside event yet still enjoyed by a large group of participants who very much appreciated the hospitality and blueberry shortcake of Fred and Sue Richards.
This was the first Wednesday night walk washout, but everyone departed into the night very content!
Staff photographer Brian Stone will be disciplined for not capturing the incredible rainbow that ‘bloomed’ for a very short period blazing from one end of the Memramcook Valley to the other!

**Several years ago, Brian Coyle transplanted a rose bush from the area of an old homestead. After a few years of growth in its new location beside Brian's house, he noticed an odd vine-like plant growing in among the rose bush. It turns out to be a Hops plant. This Hops plant likely was introduced from Europe back in the day when homesteaders used hops for various things such as making yeast, as well as some medicinal uses. Presently, we mostly know hops as what is added to beer production. Brian's plant is a female plant that can produce hops without a male plant.

While walking around his property Wednesday, Brian Coyle noticed the profusion of Jewelweed flowers along the edge of his wet ditch. A Bald-faced Hornet came in for the sweet nectar. This plant is a favourite of hummingbirds this time of year due to its very rich nectar.

**Lisa Morris recently got an excellent photograph of a spider we don’t often see, the Giant Lichen Orbweaver.
This strikingly marked spider is one of the very large ones that we see this time of year, with the females at their largest size. Most orbweaver spiders await their prey to strike their web, waiting in the center.

**Aldo Dorio reports the Great Egret that he photographed at Hay Island on Tuesday was still there Wednesday morning and looking comfortable, so it could well be present for a while.

**Way back on Wednesday, August 16th, Brian Stone was walking a trail in Cocagne with Louise Nichols when Louise spotted an American Copper Butterfly nectaring on clover flowers near the entrance to the trail. It took Brian a bit of staring before he caught sight of the small butterfly that Louise had easily noticed, but he finally got it in his sights and snapped off a few dozen photos before getting involved with other activities and putting off the processing of these photos. Better late than never, in some instances at least.
On Sunday, August 20th, Brian Stone visited the Hampton lagoons and noticed a pair of immature Pied-billed Grebes of different ages swimming around together closely with no adult present in the area. Brian was not sure what that scenario indicated but assumed that the two were of different broods and hopefully, the adults were just in another area of the lagoons temporarily.

**Nelson Poirier recently came across the plant American Germander (Teucrium canadense) on a visit to Hay Island.
Nelson had seen this plant when on a recent New Brunswick Botany Club foray to southwestern Nova Scotia. His plant app did identify it correctly, but at the time, he felt it must be wrong as it is a rare plant.
Nelson consulted Gart Bishop who ran the photos through iNaturalist and arrived at the same conclusion --American Germander (Teucrium canadense).
The Flora of NB lists designates it as a rare native species found along the Northumberland shore and on Grand Manan. The ACCDC lists it S3-S4 for NB.
Nelson is acquiring faith in the plant app after this experience. Photos are attached today.

Nelson Poirier is also attaching photos of the mushroom Sheep Polypore (Albatrellus ovinus) recently found. One photo shows both the top of the caps and the underside. The underside consists of very fine pores. This mushroom grows in groups and is considered edible, but Nelson has never tried it as an edible due to look-alike inedible species.
It’s going to be a big mushroom year with all the moisture. If folks send photos, make sure to include the top of the cap and the underside. Mushroom photos can be tough if the specimens are not fresh. The habitat they were growing in is also very helpful.