Nature Moncton Nature News: May 27 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

May 27, 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

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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

**Brian Coyle captured some very interesting videos on his trail camera.

The first video is a near perfect capture of what appears to be young-of-the-year Bobcat searching out its territory and ready to go into stalk mode. Check the video link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jz6au2rp1e251ie282s9o/DSCF0047.MP4?rlkey=f6bbnqur772drzam3a7aj3q40&st=wnsu6d2u&dl=0

The next action caught in two video clips shows two female Hooded Mergansers checking out a duck box nest and having quite a chatter about the possibilities. Check out these two videos at the links below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s060kasis0h2jjqbp6ogk/IMG_0016-Copy.MP4?rlkey=3c9y2ecrlpdnikgru1xprilgd&st=0cx6n3dz&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tenld5xi883u6m8wkihge/IMG_0017-Copy.MP4?rlkey=9r800mc4936570sf8vit0nvbf&st=f1d1pqj1&dl=0

The fourth video has a brief capture of a Mink checking out its territory in the typical erratic impatient Mink behaviour.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6vi50fawpx7arolrgskb4/STC_0001-Copy-2-_x264_001.mp4?rlkey=p3h0cwkc3ulf903kh8bx1qccp&st=kls28892&dl=0

** Gordon Rattray collected a few pictures while on the Warbler Walk Saturday and shares them. Gordon concentrated on the flora of the walk, but includes a picture of an American Redstart and a Red-eyed Vireo.

For plants, Gordon photographed the following:

Bunch Berry - Cornus canadensis

Pagoda Dogwood -Cornus alternifolia

Pin Cherry - Prunus pensylvanica

Red Elderberry - Sambucus racemose

Red Maple - Acer rubrum leaves

Serviceberry - Amelanchier sp. Unknown species, two different species found

Star Flower - Trientalis borealis

**Richard Blacquiere did a round of the Hampton lagoons on Sunday.

A Ruddy Duck, that has not been seen there for a while, has returned to the 3^rd lagoon. There was a nice line-up of Turkey Vultures on the fence; Richards's estimate of the number around the lagoon Sunday was at least 50, and there were probably more he couldn’t see. A pair of Pied-billed Grebes is in the middle pond and they were attending a nest; on that pond last year, a pair of grebes (same birds?) produced two broods.

**Barbara Smith came across a spidering ball on Sunday. They were clumped very closely together, so it was hard to tell what they were, but they had legs and if you reached toward them, they started moving around in what Barbara’s husband likened to a Busby Berkeley dancing extravaganza. Barbara sends a video so one can see a few seconds of their routine at the link below.

A consultation with BugGuide suggested they appeared to look like Cross Orbweaver spiderlings - Araneus diadematus.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mea7xxksts7m2pc32h3f0/Spiderlings-Barbara-Smith.mp4?rlkey=mh24mrwj2irym37jinurqfldh&st=yav1fcc9&dl=0

**John Inman reports he still has over 100 Blue Jays in his yard assumedly not wanting to migrate across the Shepody River due to Peregrine Falcon patrol. They go through the seed in an hour and a block of suet that they fight over in two hours.

**Photos are still coming in from the Nature Moncton Warbler walk on Saturday. The flora got lots of interest as well as warblers, as can be seen from Ruth Roger's photos of some intense scrutiny of a violet. Maureen Girvan got a very pleasant photo to show the beauty of a Nodding Trillium bloom. Maureen also photographed an American Redstart and a Black-and-White Warbler.

Maureen photographed what appears to be a young-of-the-year Snowshoe Hare in Irishtown Nature Park.

**Norbert Dupuis captured a special moment with a male Northern Cardinal showing his flowering Crabtree as a backdrop.

**Brian Stone sends a few more photos from the Saturday outing to the Haut-du-Ruisseau Park in Memramcook. A bird that did not make it to the last edition was the common Black-capped Chickadee. These little locals never seem to mind posing for the camera. Two smaller flying park patrons were the fingernail-sized Brown Elfin Butterfly and the similarly sized little blue Northern Azure Butterfly. A dozen or more large tadpoles populated the trailside ditch pond and a few Green Frogs were keeping them company. Some interesting plants photographed were Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bunchberry, Blue Violet, Starflower, Nodding Trillium, and Honeysuckle.

**Many moths are as colourful as birds when you look at them closely.

Nelson Poirier had visits from the Arched Hooktip moth, Northern Thorn moth, an Ichneumon wasp species, Saddled Prominent moth, and the One-eyed Sphinx. The One-eyed Sphinx cooperated by showing open hind wings with its eye pattern to ward off predators when alarmed, and it also quietly perched to show the arched body to give it the Sphinx name.

(Editor’s note: Nelson tried the ‘Picture Insect’ app on a trial run. It went to the right territory but Tony Thomas mentioned it seemed to be using UK nomenclature.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nature Moncton