Nature Moncton Nature News: April 29 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

April 29, 2024

Nature Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise both the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

The live feed to the Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam

** On Saturday Gordon Rattray joined the Bio Blitz walk in Riverview conducted by Nature NB. All in attendance had a great time. Gordon photographed some of the observations and shares them:

American Robin, Common Speedwell, Artist’s Conk mushroom (Ganoderma applanatum) , Bee Fly, Grey Comma, HorseTail, Leopard Frog, Speckled Alder, Sweetfern catkin, Trailing Arbutus, Water Strider, Wild Geranium, and an unknown willow.

**Susan Richards also photographed a Leopard Frog taken April 27th at Mill Creek in one of the many little ditches that still have water in them. It was the NNB City Nature Challenge tour led by Samuel LeGresley.

** Glen Nichols was checking his bee hives on Sunday afternoon when he noticed a few of the bees were doing a 'wiggle dance,' something that he has seldom seen. He called Louise who came over with her camera to take a video. The dance communicates information to the other bees about a pollen source, including the direction of the source and distance to it, and possibly the quality of the source. In the video, watch at the 8-second mark toward the top right, and again at the 12-second mark in the centre for a couple of dancing bees. See the action video at the link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jc831sawf908zc7d2dwbg/Glen-s-Bees-Louise-Nichols.MP4?rlkey=ggqujvr70dkzrtx4a6xd4uzj3&st=2xvasp41&dl=0

**Brian Coyle was kayaking on Sunday at Irishtown Nature Park and was able to photograph a pair of Common Loons quietly fishing.

** While visiting his parents in Truro, Jamie Burris saw a pair of Northern Cardinals that visited their backyard. He was happy to have packed his camera.

Karen and Jamie came back home to Riverview on the 24th and as they were having a coffee on the deck, a male Northern Cardinal was perched on the power line behind their house. A nice morning treat with coffee!

**Sterling Marsh enjoyed a good at day at the Arthur Street lagoon in Memramcook on Sunday watching Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, and many Ring-necked Ducks.

** Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins was excited to see her first warbler of the year. A male Yellow-rumped Warbler was finding bugs on her maple tree. She also saw a pair of Pine Siskins feeding each other.

** Lisa Morris noticed what appears to be a nest, suspecting Black-capped Chickadee, that was in a repurposed kettle used for flowers. It has a small indentation in the centre. Unusual for a nest in that the kettle was on the ground under the deck, and so more exposed to predators ( i.e. neighbour cats). Lisa took a photo and put the kettle back under the deck. It's possible that either the young had already hatched or the nest was abandoned. She did not notice any activity around it upon discovering it Sunday.

It appears her granddog’s fur was used in the construction (Lisa fills an empty suet cage with brushed fur and hangs it from a tree branch in February).

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nature Moncton