Nature Moncton Nature News: Sept 11 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

September 11, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

** Richard Blaquiere reports there were 2 young-of-the-year Turkey Vultures Sunday evening (Sept 10) at the Hampton lagoon. Richard has not been checking the ponds regularly, but based on past years, it's more than likely that young vultures have been around for at least a week, if not longer.
Fortunately, the youngsters cooperated for photographs.

**Another colourful fall caterpillar. Lynn and Fred Dube had an American Dagger Moth caterpillar visit their deck on Sunday, allowing photographs before continuing on its mission.

**It’s that time of year when wasps can become quite aggressive around food sources.
Lisa Morris was adding compost to her bin when she suddenly realized Bald-faced Hornets were there, and she had to back away quickly as they started flying toward her.

** Sterling Marsh had a Crane Fly by his back door for a photo. Sterling comments the wing pattern on Crane Flies always catches his attention and notes the longer grass on his lawn seems to be full of them.

** While visiting the Fundy Parkway, Brian Stone and Nelson Poirier noted the extensive area of dead spruce trees across the river from the Interpretation Centre.

They checked with staff who pointed out this was the work of the Spruce Beetle, which can cause extensive damage to Red Spruce. They will attack healthy spruce trees but favour heavily stressed trees. The adult beetles are a mere 6 mm long and construct vertical galleries that can be so numerous that the tunnels can girdle the tree and cause death.

With all the forest fires happening in the rest of Canada, one would have to be concerned about the hazard that this number of dead trees (standing kindling) on a steep embankment could pose.

Another observation noted was the very extensive presence of the non-native invasive plant Himalayan Balsam. This is a very beautiful plant, and hope that some of our native pollinators are adapting to it. It is obviously a very hardy plant, as Nelson Poirier photographed a very healthy-looking individual growing out of a rock face.

**Another observation Brian and Nelson had which they had not noticed before was Balsam Fir tree foliage with individual needles appearing to have some type of pathology.

As is often the case, a consultation with Doug Hiltz at the Maritime College of Forest Technology responded with an explanation. I am quoting Doug below:

“What you’re seeing on these Balsam Fir is called Balsam Fir Needle Rust. It is a fungal disease that affects the current year’s needles, causing discolouration, wilting/withering, and loss of infected needles. The structures you see on the underside of the leaves are fruiting bodies where spores are produced. This disease can really only occur where Balsam Fir grows in relatively close proximity to Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) as rust disease-causing fungi commonly need two different species of host plants to complete their life cycles.”

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton