NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
May 25,
2024
Nature
Moncton members as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond are
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build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News
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The live feed to the
Peregrine Falcon nest box camera can be accessed at https://www.zoodemagnetichillzoo.ca/nest-cam
**Jane LeBlanc found more birds along her St.
Martins driveway on Friday and got a photo of a Red-eyed Vireo.
**One of John Inman’s resident Raccoons comes to the
window every morning to let them know the feeder is empty. A Groundhog is
enjoying its handful of whole corn and a Red Squirrel cannot get
enough orange and when the orange is gone, it carts the empty shells away.
(Editor’s
note: I also have a Groundhog that lives under my camp and has developed a
taste for cracked corn. I have tried unsuccessfully to get a photo of it
enjoying the corn, but John has beaten me to the punch!)
**A Gray
Catbird has become a regular visitor to the yard of Norbert Dupuis in
Memramcook and posed for a nice photograph which often this species is hesitant
to do.
**In a follow-up
to the recent report Tony Thomas contributed of his experience with rearing
Luna moths, Tony comments a female Luna
Moth emerged on May 21 and mated that evening. He placed her in a cage
lined with paper towels (best way to handle any eggs that get laid). Several
eggs were present on May 24 and Tony photographed two. Many moth eggs are
heavily sculptured and make interesting images. These eggs are a
disappointment as they look like dirty stones! It appears that the female covers
the eggs with a glue, the big black blotch on the paper, that lets them stick
to the surface they are laid on. Many moths use a glue to stick the eggs but
this species looks as though the glue completely covers the egg, perhaps
making them less appetizing to predators; the eggs are large -- the long one in
this photo is 2.40 mm long.
(Editor’s note: it is not very often we get to see
moth eggs at this magnification so clearly. They look large in the photo but
bear in mind Tony’s comment they are only 2.40 mm)
**Lisa
Morris reports Tree Swallows are actively using nest boxes (in Moncton) around Jones
Lake on Hillcrest Drive, Old West End by a small grass park and the dock area in
freshly minted nest boxes.
**As per previous years, Ray Gauvin does not put his
hummingbird feeder out until they announce their arrival by hovering in the
kitchen bay window where he places the feeder. This has been his practice for
years.
Ray was
ready to take a video of the window and shares the link to that video below:
**Christine
Lever leaves a final report on her recent trip to the UK where she has shared
some interesting nature sleuthing photographs which I am again going to share
essentially verbatim as the editor is not familiar with some of her subjects; however, Christine has researched them.
Quoting
Christine:
“Look at
this gorgeous moth! It's called an Ermine
Moth and it is indeed regal in an ermine-hooded cloak decorated with jet beads.
Other photos are of a Common Moorhen
(another bird with awesome feet) at Kew Gardens and a purple cone,
also seen at Kew. I took that photo especially for Gordon Rattray as he's on
his 'documenting plants of NB mission'. I don't know if this particular cone grows in NB but Gordon will know.
The last photo is a Red Oak with a bracket fungi
growing in and on it. Most of the bracket fungi are hidden in the tree. It
doesn't harm the tree at all, so they will grow and thrive together. The fungi
do feed on the dead wood of the red oak but leave the healthy parts to grow.
It seems to me to function similarly to the situation of maggots eating diseased or dead tissue.”
(Editor’s note: please feel free to make comments
on Christine’s observations. We have been blessed in New Brunswick with some
breeding Common Moorhen (or Common Galinule, as they are known as here).
I suspect all of us have heard of Kew Gardens in
the UK which most of us will never have the opportunity to visit.)
Nature
Moncton
