NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
August 21, 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 the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo
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Proofreading
courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca
**The write-up on this Wednesday evening
Nature Moncton nature walk tonight is attached below:
** AUGUST 21th WEDNESDAY
EVENING WALK
Start time: 6:00 pm
Come join us for a guided walk along
the Medicine Hiking Trail at Amlamgog (Fort Folly) First Nation. Our guide, Nicole from Fort Folly, will
introduce us to the flora and will relay stories along the way to aid in our
interpretation at each point of interest.
If you have ever wondered which plants can be medically beneficial, this
is the walk to go on!
“This is a 2.5 km well-groomed trail,
family-friendly and an easy walk through the woods. It features English, French
and Mi’kmaw interpretative panels that showcase medicinal plants and their
traditional uses.
Parking is located at 88 Bernard
Trail with signage visible at back left corner of the parking lot. Be mindful
there are a couple of road crossings.”
(https://www.station8nb.ca/fort-folly-medicine-trail)
Directions: Bernard Trail is off of Route 106,
which connects Dieppe – Memramcook – Dorchester – Sackville. Once on Bernard Trail the buildings are not
numbered, so drive past the Health Centre, past the barricade, and look for
the tipi on the left and turn in the parking lot there to park.
If using Highway #2 From Moncton,
take exit #482. Turn right onto Renaissance Road, which turns into Royal
Rd/NB-106 E (signs for NB-925/Dorchester). From the Memramcook Home Hardware, drive
approximately 15 km (about 15 minutes).
This is in the woods, so bug spray
and protective clothing are recommended. Don’t forget to wear your name tag
too!
All are welcome, Nature Moncton
members or not.
**Louise Nichols checked her trail
cam a couple of days ago in their Aulac woods to find the Black Bears
are around again. This time, a mother and one cub seem to be frequenting the
area. Louise attaches a video of the two of them. Mama bear stands on hind legs
to check out the camera which is attached to a tree about 5-6 feet off
the ground. Check out their visit at the video link below that Louise’s trail camera
recorded:
(Editor’s note: it is interesting
and I suspect unknown why Black Bears often notice trail cameras and
check them out. It would be of interest to know just why they do it. It would
appear obviously to be out of curiosity and not fear. In many cases, the
cameras are damaged or removed. A thorough examination seemed to satisfy this
Mama.)
**In yesterday’s edition, Christine Lever
shared a photo of Yellow Witches’ Broom (which is reattached today). The
information shared on this unique growth yesterday was basically correct.
However, Doug Hiltz from the Maritime College of Forest Technology reviewed the
photo to leave some very interesting comments to more completely explain the
scenario. Doug’s interesting comments are attached below:
“It is indeed on Balsam Fir. This kind of Witches’ Broom is due to a fungal infection called fir broom rust which involves the fungus Melampsorella caryo-phyllacearum. There are two main causes of Witches’ Brooms in eastern Canada, fungal infections and infection by parasitic plants called Dwarf Mistletoes. The latter produces large brooms with normal-looking green foliage while the former produces short, thick, yellow needles. Interestingly, those deformed needles only survive one growing season so the broom we see in the photo all would have grown in the past few months. The broom can continue to grow but all the needles we currently see should be dead by spring.
Also interesting is that most rust fungi have
very complex life cycles including up to five different stages, producing
a different type of spore at each stage and also need two different hosts of
two different species to complete these life cycles. In this case the
fungus undergoes part of its life cycle on Balsam Fir and part on Chickweed, each
passing the infection back and forth. The infection cannot spread from one fir
to another but has to infect Chickweed first, then back to fir. Fungi are
weird and wonderful things. [I have attached] a couple of photos of chickweed, both
uninfected and infected for anyone that is not familiar with it and may
be interested. These infections on Balsam Fir are usually fairly benign
but if they occur too close to the main stem they can cause deformation, crown
dieback, and even tree death.”
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
