Nature Moncton Nature News: September 27 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

September 27, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

** On Sunday around noon time, Karen and Jamie Burris had a kettle of 60 or more hawks circling their Riverview home and moving in an easterly direction. They felt they were mostly Broad-Winged Hawks, but there could be others to the trained eye.

(Editor’s note: they certainly do appear to be very predominantly Broad-winged Hawks, so the challenge is to pick up tagalongs!)

**John Inman captured a beautiful photograph of a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk keeping a sharp eye on the patrons of his Harvey, Albert County birdfeeder yard.

**Wayne Fairchild was pleased to see and photograph an uncommon butterfly in suburbia (usually a forest dweller), the Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Butterfly enjoying nectaring on Sedum blooms.
Wayne notes that the Maritimes Butterfly Atlas comments this butterfly species is ‘Rare in most areas”.

**Grant Ramsey got some beautiful photographs to show the value of certain plants, such as aster, at this time of the year, as witnessed with several types of bumblebees, wasps, and a Painted Lady Butterfly visiting their asters.

**Rheal Vienneau recently collected several Black Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillars from Yolande LeBlanc’s Memramcook carrot patch.
From about mid-August to early fall, the caterpillars are almost entirely from a second brood, and as such, the chrysalids will overwinter, and the butterflies will not emerge until late this coming spring. Rheal will keep them refrigerated until June or so. Therefore, no nice butterfly pictures until next year.
Rheal does incubate a few for emergence at Christmas for his grandkids and for some needy not-for-profit organizations.

**Aldo Dorio photographed a Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar at Hay Island.
Dave MacLeod comments their common food plants are many species of deciduous trees and shrubs. They pupate inside a gray cocoon containing the caterpillar’s hairs (setae) where it overwinters. Dave suggested the website below for more information on this species:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halysidota_tessellaris

**Jane Leblanc shares some photos from around St. Martins.

At a nearby lake, she found several White-faced Meadowhawk Dragonflies.

At the Irving Nature Park in West St. John, she found at least 5 Great Egrets.

On her giant (over 8 feet tall) sunflowers in her garden, there are many pollinators at work.

**Sterling Marsh found the Arthur Street lagoon in Memramcook was very busy on Sunday with Canada Geese, teals, Ring-necked Ducks, and Northern Shovelers (fall editions).

** Brian Roulston comments he has never seen Northern Catalpa trees with leaves measuring greater than 18" X 18" in the Sussex area this season.

(Editor’s note: as we all have noted, it has been an incredible year of growth for green foliage. Brian’s Northern Catalpa observations seem to agree. Maybe we will still be mowing our lawns in December if this keeps up!)

Brian also comments he has noticed ‘herds’ of Isabella Tiger Moth Woolly Bear Caterpillars crossing the roads near his Sussex area home in the past few days, generally towards the south, which is probably just coincidental.

(Editor’s note: more abundant foliage meant abundant caterpillars to enjoy a full pantry!)

Brian Roulston is also finally able to hear again as the Pileated Woodpeckers have at last finished stripping the grapes from the vines that grow up a big old white pine beside the house.

**Lisa Morris came across a temporarily cooperative Red-backed Salamander while planting some Fred Richards-donated lavender plants. It had to be named Fred in respect of the scenario!

(Editor’s note: this is a very common woods salamander but not very often seen. Although Fred was cooperative, it will very likely not be seen again.)

Lisa also took note of some colourful fungi that often appear this time of year as shelf fungi growing on wood. They match well the Inonotus genus of mushrooms and perfectly match the Alder Bracket mushroom; however, this is only suspected as it does not appear to be growing on alder.

Lisa also noted a suspected Pale Green Assassin Bug hitching a ride inside on a bunch of garden greens (celery, lemon balm, carrot tops).

**Sedum is a late-blooming plant and a very welcome site for many collectors of nectar/pollen.

Debbie Batog’s yard Sedum plant is doing just that, being very popular with bumblebees.

**Pat Gibbs knows most birds eat bugs, but she never thought she would see a Blue Jay behaving like a woodpecker. That is a chunk of rotten wood it has in its mouth, which it pulled out of the dead, rotting birch in her front yard, woodpecker style. That's a big piece of wood, not some little bug. Pat didn't see what it did with it as it flew away. Surely, it wouldn't -- couldn't -- swallow that big piece of wood, and Pat wonders how it would get the bugs out of it.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton