Nature Moncton Nature News: September 29 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Sept 29, 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 the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

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Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**From the biggest to smallest, Jane LeBlanc in St. Martins has seen both lately. She had another opportunity to go whale watching with cruise ship guests this week and saw a Humpback Whale calf. The crew of the boat said it had already been entangled in fishing gear and struck by a boat, but it still came close to the boat for the folks to get a good look. It even breached (no, Jane did NOT get a photo AGAIN...the only thing that made her feel better was that one of the boat crew members said she had seen breaches all season, and that was the first time she had gotten a photo.)

They also saw both Harbour and Gray Seals on the rocks (the Gray Seal is on the left of the photo with just its face and upper body in the shot.)

Then at home, Ed called Jane out to the garage to see a Red Eft (the immature land phase of the Eastern Newt) which had wandered in out of the rain.

**Norbert Dupuis captured a photo of a rainbow that graced the Memramcook Valley on Friday's wet day.

A rainbow always beautifully enlightens any day!

**John Inman now reports they have three Sharp-shinned Hawks that tend to create havoc in their Harvey yard at times.

However, as mentioned in a previous edition, some Blue Jays are becoming quite pugnacious and ready to defend their mutual territory. Shannon Inman was able to get a photo of a Blue Jay on the feeder defending itself from a Sharp-shinned Hawk and successfully driving it off.

John’s photo of a visiting White-breasted Nuthatch was deleted from yesterday’s edition. It is included today.

**Brian Stone went to the Cocagne Arena pollinator garden on Saturday afternoon and in between heavy rain showers he searched for the Common Buckeye butterfly without success. He did photograph a Common Eastern Bumblebee on an aster and a large Banded Argiope garden spider so he would have something to send.

**Another photo that cyberspace swallowed was the map included with the announcement of next Saturday's Nature Moncton field trip. Please scroll back to yesterday’s edition to see that map with the notice of the trip.

**After a very dry period in New Brunswick, a few days of rain can be considered a ‘mushroom rain.' However, it will take a few more days for the happy underground mycelium to shoot up their fruiting bodies, the mushrooms.

Nelson Poirier led a mushroom foray for an enthusiastic group of Nature Sussex members on Saturday. Surprisingly, they were able to find lots of mushrooms but not the big diversity that may happen in the week ahead. A small selection of delectable edibles were found. Many photos were taken but not submitted as yet.

Nelson spotted what he thought were three white geese in a field but realized they were not moving and putting binoculars on them, he realized they were three huge Giant Puffballs (estimated weight at 15-20 lbs). On going to look at them closer, he noted the flesh was clean and white yet there were huge fissures in two of them, a scenario he had not seen before but assumed it was due to the dry period in the days before.

The group stopped by a restaurant in Sussex with a mounted Caribou head that was harvested in 1907 and still in perfect condition. The Caribou and Moose were the popular hunted hooved mammals in New Brunswick before the arrival of the White-tailed Deer from the south which carried brain worm that devastated the Caribou herd.

Nelson also encountered a surprise scenario when making a side trip to try to seek out seeds of the elusive Wild Leek (unsuccessfully). He came across a large mass of Black Bear scat. He then noticed a large shrub loaded with Hawthorn berries which was apparently the interest of the bruin as it suddenly appeared. Nelson and the bear were equally startled with the bear choosing to have nothing to do with the photographer and crashing off into the woods.

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton