Nature Moncton Nature News: July 25 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

July 25, 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

**Tuesday was another exciting day in New Brunswick when every bird nerd in the province headed at daybreak for a potential audience with a Wilson’s Plover that Denise Maillet had located on Monday at Cormierville marsh. It stayed in the area and I suspect everyone who made the journey was successful in seeing the bird, the first documented record of this species in New Brunswick. It was a scope view and some were able to get good photographs while some of us had to settle for documentary photos.

This was Jim Wilson’s 400^th New Brunswick species!! Congratulations Jim.

**Louise Nichols is noting a lot of butterfly activity in their yard with a good variety of species. She attaches some photos of what she has seen recently which includes a number of Monarch Butterflies (not in photo line-up). It seems like a good year.

On Wednesday afternoon, Louise visited the Chignecto Wildlife Area just over the NS border (the impoundments around the corner from the Amherst Migratory Bird Sanctuary) and she noticed some dragonfly activity near the water that caught her attention as the dragonflies were very colourful and did not seem familiar. Louise got some photos and was able to ID them when she got home as male Blue Dasher dragonflies. Their range is normally south of here, but it would seem that they are being seen more often in Nova Scotia and even New Brunswick, presumably expanding their range northward.

(Editor’s note: Louise’s photos of Blue Dasher dragonflies is a significant find. Gilles Belliveau, with a lot of experience with dragonflies, comments:

“There are not many known sites for them in NB but they have been found in the Fredericton area and at several sites in Charlotte County (including the St George Marsh), a site in the Midland area near Norton and there was one photographed in the Sackville Waterfowl Park last summer.

A few of the sightings date back 15-20+ years but most sightings seem to be within the past 5-7 years so they do seem to be expanding their range more in NB but it’s hard to know how long they’ve been at several of the new sites they’ve been found at in recent years because there are so few people looking for odes and reporting them.”

**Veronica Price is having a good year for Monarch butterflies in her yard. She recently got good photographs of a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar that appears to be in one of its later instars and definitely a potential candidate for its adult form to start the journey to Mexico.

**Brian Stone and Nelson Poirier visited the St. George marsh trail last Friday with a few items that haven’t been shared yet.

The bright red Alder Tongue gall (Taphrina alni) is a fungi that infects the female Alder catkins. They are green at first but in July turn bright red and in later season turn brown and persist on the catkins for much of the year.

White Water-lily was at its prime bloom.

Seabeach Sandwort and Sea Rocket (a delicious raw edible) were abundant at Black Beach.

A bright orange gall was numerous on Wild Cucumber; the identity of the maker continues to be a mystery to be solved!

**On Wednesday morning Brian Stone joined Nelson Poirier on a short trip to Cormierville marsh to view the extra rare Wilson's Plover. Thanks to a group of birders already there, they had their choice of scopes already lined up on the chubby little bird. Brian managed to get some less than satisfactory long-distance documentary photos to record the event but was still very happy just to have seen great views of the plover through the scopes.

On Wednesday evening Brian attended the Nature Moncton Wednesday Night Walk at Highland Park in Salisbury, ably led by David Miller and Lois Budd. Brian sends some photos to document some of the interesting subjects seen. There was a nice appearance of an adult Killdeer that strolled by close to the viewing platform at the same time as the group was viewing a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs that were foraging at the edge of the reeds.

Several duck families were noted and one photo combines an adult female American Wigeon duck with a couple of her ducklings beside a group of Northern Shoveler ducklings resting at the water's edge. Another Northern Shoveler family was out on the water in a relaxed group. At least two Muskrats were seen carrying food plants to their dens as Wood Ducks, Pied-billed Grebes, an American Coot, and other duck species populated the water around them.

Along the trail Eastern Kingbirds perched in trees, Bald Eagles flew by, and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nectared among the Jewelweed plants. Members of the group were excited to catch glimpses of small, fuzzy, black, Virginia Rail chicks scurrying among the reeds and Brian made sure his photos of them were out of focus just to be different.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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