Nature Moncton Nature News: June 12 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 12, 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

**The Sedge Wren was still present at Wilson Marsh on Tuesday.

Fred and Lynn Dube spotted it several times very briefly but they were not able to capture a photo. They also heard and saw Marsh Wrens.

Fred did photograph a fresh Viceroy butterfly, a male Common Yellowthroat warbler, and a Canada Goose family.

** Though they hatched a few days ago, the young Pied-billed Grebes remained mostly hidden in the cattails at the Hampton lagoon. Tuesday evening was the first time they were out in the open and Richard Blacquiere was able to clearly see and count all eight hatchlings. It was worth the wait. Richard comments he will have to wait a bit longer to get the whole brood in a single photo.

**The Luna Moth eggs that Tony Thomas photographed (posted May 24, 2024) began hatching on June 10, 2024; two of these are shown in today's photo. The other one, the green caterpillar, hatched on June 11, 2024 and is also shown. They are about 6 mm long and are feeding on birch leaves. When they get bigger, they will be released onto the birch tree.

** Lisa Morris had two American Robins build nests beside each other in two days like an HGTV building contest. The nest on the left was well attended by both parents. The sole mama on the right spent less and less time in her nest. No babies and possibly no eggs as she was rarely there. Lisa will check for eggs once the twins on the left fledge completely.

One chick fledged by 9pm June 11 and eventually flew away but the other one is still in the nest.

Lisa learned so much about nesting habits from observing the Assumption building peregrines, which seems to apply to the robins as well. The robin parents were very attentive and Mama robin dutifully removed excrement sacs every time she fed them. Take a look at the action in the video link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gezrsbx6r1fg55mlxaqoj/Robins.MOV?rlkey=und1eal8k0axdbwff5twvp4zv&st=w4rf8sq7&dl=0

**Michael Cybulski captured an excellent open-wing photo of a Hummingbird Clearwing moth in his Moncton yard on Tuesday.

We have three hummingbird imitation moths in New Brunswick but this species is the most commonly encountered.

**Louise Nichols was with Wendy Sullivan and Elaine Gallant on one of the Festival of Nature weekend trails, and they located a Willow Flycatcher. Louise was able to record it. Turn up the volume and listen closely at the link below. The bird can be heard three times -- at around one second, five seconds and 10 seconds:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ew9qh59khtlinyuxqau2u/Willow-Flycatcher-Louise-Nichols.m4a?rlkey=p61o2n8n66zdks3h8phkhz8gy&st=2pyneaqc&dl=0

**Jane LeBlanc saw a Magnolia warbler at her warbler spot Tuesday. A Wilson's warbler was there as well but didn't stop for photos.

**Norbert Dupuis captured an early morning photo of a Red-eyed Vireo showing the reddish colouration of the eye which can sometimes be hard to capture in a photo.

**Brian Stone sends a few photos from last Friday that he finally got a chance to process and share with the Nature News blog. When walking on the Hampton lagoon trail on the day he saw the Snapping Turtle, he also photographed a Tree Swallow peeking out of its nest box and some of the rough looking Wood Ducks that were resting on the pipes in the lagoon. Later on that Friday Brian stopped in at the Cornhill Nursery site and got some pictures of a tiny Eastern Pine Elfin and a Cedar Waxwing foraging for insects in the apple orchard.

**Several years ago, Roger LeBlanc had a potter neighbour make some imitation clay Cliff Swallow nests in the style of some that had previously been for sale but discontinued.

Jim Johnson in Scotch settlement had a few nesting Cliff Swallows on his house and garage. He erected one of those clay nests near where a natural nest was. This year, the clay nest appears to be occupied. Some photos show the clay nest with a head peering out. Another photo shows the clay nest aside a natural nest.

**At the recent Festival of Nature in Woodstock, several of us were attracted to an active group of bees gathering pollen from the flowers of an Alternate-leaf Dogwood.

BugGuide has identified them as Mining Bees in the genus Andrena. Note the heavy load of pollen that is being carried in the leg pouches.

Another insect that joined them was identified by BugGuide as in the genus Zelus that are insects in the family Reduviidae, the assassin bugs.

Another plant that caught the interest of many was the second stage in maturity of the Trout Lily. Louise Nichols' photo shows the seed pod that develops after flowering. This seed pod droops over to the ground, develops fibrils, and buries itself in the soil. Nelson Poirier’s photo shows that stage where the seed pod has gone underground leaving what's left which resembles a white worm. The underground portion will remain as such for seven years when it will emerge and flower again.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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