Nature Moncton Nature News: June 3 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

June 3, 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

**As an early heads up, Nature Moncton will be holding a field trip to Kouchibouguac National Park on July 13. It is being announced earlier as this field trip has a limit of 20 participants. The write-up is at the end of this edition with an email address to register to make sure you have a place.

**Louise Nichols sends a selection of photos she took toward the end of May of some dragonflies and a couple of butterflies. These were taken around the Aulac area, either on their property or in Sackville or Baie Verte. The dragonfly photos included are American Emerald, Four-spotted Skimmer, Hudsonian Whiteface, Beaverpond Baskettail, Dusky Clubtail, and Belted Whiteface. The two butterflies were first-of-the-year for Louise: a Dreamy Duskywing and a Hobomok Skipper.

**Mac and Brenda Wilmot are fairly sure they have a Carolina Wren in their yard but they haven't been able to spot it. They have been hearing it for over a week.

Mac was able to record it and it is available at the link below. Gilles Belliveau and Nelson Poirier have listened to the recording and agree with Mac but stand to be corrected. It is amazing the loud vocalization this very small bird can make, and yet it's so secretive about being seen if not coming to a birdfeeder. There is a small population in New Brunswick and some are resident as their loud vocalizations have been heard in the winter as well. Listen to Mac’s video a few times to get a feeling for suspecting his presence.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VUHuUXpEogXf8rWYA

**Saturday night was a very cool night; however, it did not stop a big beautiful Luna Moth from being out on its mission.

Aldo Dorio photographed a Luna Moth on Sunday day perched on an outside wall at Tim Horton’s in Neguac.

**In yesterday’s edition, Barbara Smith shared a photo of a displaced bird’s nest wondering about the maker. Jim Wilson has responded with an excellent explanation which I’m going to quote verbatim so we can all learn with photo rerun today.

Quoting Jim:
“For what it's worth, the mystery nest certainly looks like sparrow or finch construction given the rough grass and weed stem outer construction and the warmly-lined inner cup. Song sparrows and juncos have been nesting for a while now and many other more newly-arrived species are starting nest construction.

Looking at the construction, the nest walls appear quite thick and the overall size of '6 inches across at its widest and 4 inches deep, and the depression in the middle 2 inches across and 2 inches deep' doesn't sound or look quite like Song Sparrow or junco. It also does not look like a Chipping Sparrow nest - it would seem too large and also Chippies tend to use dark hair/fur in a typical construction.

I'm wondering if it might be the newly-constructed nest of a House Finch that was somehow displaced from its original site although I don't know if Barbara and her husband have any House Finches around their property. If they do, my bet would be a possible House Finch.”

**Several years ago, Fred Richards built some nest boxes designed for the Eastern Phoebe from a pattern on the Internet. They were not particularly successful, so the project was not repeated.
Nelson Poirier has four of these boxes placed. An American Robin has nested on the roof of one, a Mourning Dove has nested on the roof of another, one has remained unoccupied; however, one placed under the eave of a neighbouring cabin is occupied by an Eastern Phoebe couple. A photo shows the nest box under the eave and a photo of the nest containing nestlings which had to be taken at some distance to avoid disturbing the family. The Eastern Phoebe nest is easily recognized as it is always constructed of tightly woven moss with fine hair in the bowl.
The Eastern Phoebe prefers to nest under bridges or under the eaves of human structures in most cases. In saying that, a nest can appear in some unexpected places.

**KOUCHIBOUGUAC Park Visit

On July 13th (or July 20th - rain day), Nature Moncton has a special day planned in our own magnificent Kouchibouguac National Park!

There will be two walks, guided by a specialized park naturalist (David Mazerolle), in different and unique habitats. The first, starting at 10:00 am, will be on the bog boardwalk. This will be limited to around 20 people due to the width of the boardwalk and takes you into a fascinating diversity of plants that represent some of the early stages of succession, as nature evolves.

This trail, and the park in general, is flat terrain. The trail through the woods from the bog parking lot/meeting point and the boardwalk itself run a total of 1.9 km from end to end. It is unlikely that we will need to go to the end of the trail, so a total of 2 km total over an hour to an hour and a half would be anticipated.

This will be followed by a group picnic at around noon. The picnic site is minutes away from the bog parking lot, so this should be simple to navigate.

After our rest and picnic, a second guided walk of about 1 hour duration is planned. This is a short loop (0.9 km) through a typical salt marsh habitat. Here is an opportunity to visit - from the comfort of a boardwalk - a wet, soggy, mosquito infested area that few people ever see. Put on some comfortable clothes and walking shoes, slap on the bug repellent, and experience this ecological zone firsthand.

For planning purposes, Google Maps suggests the time to travel to the bog parking lot meeting place from the Moncton Airport is 1 hour and 15 minutes.

We will be pre-registering for these walks with a limit of 20 participants (members get priority), as both have physical limitations due to the boardwalks being relied upon. Depending on interest, if the registration does not fill up by July 2nd, there is the possibility of opening this day up to the Botany Club of NB members as well, so book yourself in early for a special day with Nature Moncton. Pre-register at outandabout4nm@gmail.com

Registrants will receive an email the week prior to the event with much of the same content as this one, but with some final fine tuning for clarity (e.g., meeting places, carpooling). Participants should be aware that they will need to pay park entry fees.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nature Moncton