NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Sept 1, 2024
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**Deana and Peter Gadd spent much of Saturday at Kouchibouguac National Park with the primary intention of checking out the migratory shorebirds. Their hope of catching up with Red Knots was realized. During a mid-morning visit to Kelly’s Beach, two Red Knots were spotted foraging in a bit of washed-up kelp, unconcerned by a few humans passing nearby. As usual, by the time Red Knots get to NB, there is no sign of any breeding plumage. They were very grey! They were in the company of a single Semipalmated Sandpiper who was also checking out the kelp.
Other shorebirds sighted were several Black-bellied Plovers
still showing their breeding plumage remnants and Semipalmated Plovers. Not a yellowlegs
in sight! A cluster of Great Blue Herons were hanging about in the grass, all
with their backs to the strong wind, waiting for something it seemed.
In the protected area of the canteen
at Kelly’s Beach, a fresh looking Green Comma butterfly, perhaps just recently emerged, posed nicely on a fence
rail for a back-wing view.
On returning home they were pleased to
find three Northern Cardinals at their feeder. The presence of this species
had been regular in recent years but not during the past late spring and
summer. The three included an adult male, an immature male, and very likely an
immature female. The adult was hanging about and seemed to be keeping an eye on
things but the youngsters were feeding for themselves, sharing the dining room
table with Purple Finches.
**Jane LeBlanc was trying to get some last-minute
photos of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds before they head south, and was surprised
when a Ruby-throated Hummingbird sat on a daylily and got a beak full of
nectar.
**The Monarch Butterfly has lots of hurdles to cross going from the egg
to the caterpillar to the chrysalis and emerging as an adult.
Yolande LeBlanc reports that her niece,
Anne LeBlanc, who lives in Grande-Digue, had a Monarch butterfly take
about one hour to come out of its chrysalis, then fall to the ground. They
tried to help, but to no use.
She then saw one that had
only one wing pumped up, the left one stayed crumpled. Anne was able
to get photographs of the incident.
(Editor’s note: it is normal for the
emerging butterfly to take a few hours for both wings to fill with fluid and
will wait until sufficient power from solar energy lets them fly off on their
important final mission. Anne’s photos do suggest a problem in that process
which may or may not be correctable on their own volition.)
Yolande had a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird
on Friday and three on Thursday. As is normal, the majority of males have departed
by this date with females and young-of-the-year lingering into the first third
of September.
Bob sends a table of those statistics comparing August of 2023
with August of 2024. (It has to be taken into consideration this month that Bob
was away for 9 days in August but some figures still apply. Notably, the
monthly precipitation for 2023 was higher than that of August 2024. Also
the very high daily temperatures we experienced in August of 2024 compared to
August of 2023 are reflected.)
|
2023 |
2024 |
||
|
morning temperatures |
daily highs and rainfall |
morning temperatures |
daily highs and rainfall |
|
+22-1 day +21-1 +20-1 +19-2 +18-5 +17-1 +16-4 +15-6 +13-2 |
+26-2 +25-3 +24-8 +23-6 +22-1 145 mms. rain Away for 9
days. |
+24-3 +23-1 +22-2 +19-8 +18-1 +17-3 +16-3 +15-3 +14-3 +13-1 +12-1 +11-1 +8-1 |
+32-1 +31-1 +30-1 +29-2 +28-5 +27-7 +26-7 +24-1 +22-1 +21-1 +20-3 78 mms. rain |
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
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