NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 18,
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.
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
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
**Fred Richards came
across a colony of Alder Leaf Beetles on
Friday. These large apple seed-sized beetles can appear in surprising numbers
on their favourite forage target of alder shrub leaves. Alder may be their favourite,
but they can target other shrubs/trees as well. Their feeding habit of
consuming the greenery and leaving a skeleton of veins is a clue to their
presence.
**Gordon Rattray and Fred
Richards visited Haute-du-Ruisseau Nature Park in Memramcook on May 16, preparing for the Nature Moncton event on May 25. They found the trails
in excellent condition and an abundance of nature to record and observe.
Birds photographed included Black-and-White Warbler, a Blackburnian Warbler,
Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Chestnut-sided
Warbler, Northern Parula Warbler, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Other birds recorded were Blue-headed Vireo, Black-capped Chickadee, Hermit
Thrush, White-throated Sparrow, many Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and a
Least Flycatcher ( confirmed by Merlin).
Birds not standing for a photo were Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ovenbird, Magnolia Warbler, and a drumming Ruffed Grouse.
Gordon and Fred also
observed some interesting plants as well as the bush being infested by Alder Leaf
Beetles.
Plants observed:
Broad-leaved Toothwort -
Cardamine diphylla
Canada Fly Honeysuckle -
Lonicera canadensis
Dutchman's Breeches -
Dicentra cucullaria
Marsh Blue Violet - Viola
cucullate
Painted Trillium - Trillium
undulatum
Red Trillium - Trillium
erectum
The area looks good for
next week!
**Barbara Smith leaves some very interesting
comments too good not to share verbatim!
“I've
always felt slightly embarrassed by what I've come to call our ‘weed lot’.
Almost all of our neighbours in Riverview have picture-perfect, weed-free
lawns, maintained by teams of people who spray them several times a year with
herbicides and pesticides. Our ‘lawn’ on the other hand, is a bumpy, scraggly,
grub-eaten mess of dandelions, wild strawberries, clover, hawkweed, daisies,
and many other plants that I don't know. But walking across our backyard this
morning, I could see it was absolutely ALIVE with bees and other pollinators.
So I'm kind of glad we are bringing down the neighbourhood, so to speak,
and haven't given in to the lawn police.
A first photo
shows our weed lot. Others show pollinators enjoying a late breakfast.
We had a
big White-tailed Deer walk through our backyard the night before last and two Red
Foxes the morning before that."
**Lance Harris visited
the Dieppe marshland area on Friday to find it a real waterfowl nursery
photographing the Canada Goose families and Mallard Duck families.
**On
Wednesday Brian Stone headed out into the wild again to hunt down the elfin
butterflies he has been hoping for this season and was successful this time on
the Taylor Rd. at Second North River. He was disappointed that his Bog Elfin
Butterfly was out of focus, but his Brown Elfin Butterfly was sharp
so at least one was good. He also got the underside of a Gray Comma
Butterfly and the topside of a Green Comma Butterfly as well as a Red
Admiral Butterfly and a Beaverpond Baskettail Dragonfly, his first
dragonfly photo of the season. Two variations of the Northern Azure
Butterfly were photographed for comparison and a Virginia Ctenucha Moth
Caterpillar trundled across the road at a slow, caterpillar-y pace.
At a second
stop at Highland Park Brian teamed up with photographer and nature lover Kevin
Balmer and after photographing baby and parent Mallard Ducks, with a
swim-past by a Muskrat, they went to the Salisbury Government Rd.
wetland ponds where they had a successful photo session with several bird
species including a pair of Warbling Vireos, several Baltimore
Orioles, an Eastern Kingbird, and a small group of beautifully
singing Bobolinks that Brian wishes he had thought to record. A curious Canada
Jay at Taylor Rd. stopped for a quick look around before heading out into
the woods.
Nature Moncton
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